Uncalled For
by LadyLight0105
Summary: "That was uncalled for," Ryoma said as he dusted himself off. "And you think leaving your sister in the middle of the Nevada desert was called for!" An Echizen siblings story. AtobexOC
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** Just a little something that came into my mind when I was re-reading the manga. I always liked the idea of Ryoma having an older sister, and I imagined their relationship, and then I came up with this. I'm not entirely sure if I want to make this more than a oneshot. Tell me what you think, please?

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><p>The sun was blaring down upon the tennis courts of Seishun Gakuen, where Kikumaru Eiji and Echizen Ryoma were playing a practice match.<p>

"Nee, Echizen, you getting tired already?" Eiji taunted as Ryoma prepared to serve.

Ryoma glared at him and smirked, "aren't you?"

Sweat trickled down their faces and they were breathing heavily.

Eiji smiled as they continued their practice match.

Inui had suggested it, saying that the game would be beneficial to both, and whoever lost would have to drink his special veggie juice. The two were down to the last point of the intense match, which was a tie-breaker. No one wanted to drink the damned veggie juice.

It was extremely hot, which made the game all the more harder.

Ryoma served, a slice, which Eiji quickly returned. When Ryoma was about to hit the ball, however, he was distracted and accidentally hit the ball feebly, hitting the net.

"Ochibi! You lose!" Eiji said, jumping for joy. No veggie juice for him.

Ryoma muttered a curse as a woman entered the courts.

She was dressed in a cocktail dress and heels, her hair was tied into a high ponytail and her face was made up. She struck Eiji as someone who looked very much familiar.

Then it hit him. She looked a lot like Echizen. Her hair had the same green streaks in the light, her eyes had the same feline qualities as Echizen, even the same color. Her skin was as fair as his, and she was taller than him by just a couple of inches, plus some because of the heels.

This was either Echizen's extremely young looking mother, or his sister.

She walked quickly up to Ryoma, a bit awkwardly, as she came closer, Ryoma gulped, but didn't move from his position.

Coach Ryuzaki did nothing to stop the woman, although everyone expected her to. Even Tezuka didn't, probably because it seemed okay with the coach.

She raised her fist, and to everybody's shock, she punched Ryoma square in the jaw.

He landed on the floor, his hand on his jaw.

"I've been waiting to do that for months!" She said as she took a step back, shaking her hand, as if it hurt to punch Ryoma.

"That was uncalled for," Ryoma said as he stood up, dusting himself off.

"And leaving your sister in the middle of the Nevada desert is called for?" She shouted, moving towards him again.

Everyone had stopped what they were doing, their jaws open with shock as they watched the scene between the siblings unfold.

"It was," Ryoma shrugged as if it was nothing.

"You little punk!" The woman shouted getting ready to punch him again.

Just then, another woman entered, wearing a sports suit, running to Ryoma's sister and grabbing her by the waist before she could do it. Ryoma had moved away when she had attempted to kick him from her restrained position.

"Let me go, Rei!" she snarled at the woman who was restraining her.

"Lina!" The woman shouted, "you're causing a scene!"

She pointed an accusing finger at Ryoma, who was now being cared for by his senpai, Oishi, carrying a first aid kit.

"That bastard left me alone in middle of nowhere!"

At the sidelines, Eiji joined Momoshiro and Fuji, and the taller man whispered, "sounds like something Echizen would really do."

"Sounds like it," Fuji nodded.

"Hey," Ryoma said, his usual nonchalant self, "you got out didn't you?"

Lina gritted her teeth and glared at him, still straining against the hold that the other woman had on her.

"Lina, you'll be late for your interview," Rei said in an attempt to diffuse the situation.

After a few moments, Lina had calmed down, but her eyes didn't leave Ryoma, nor did she stop glaring at him. Rei slowly released her, and Lina quickly went to Coach Ryuzaki.

"I apologize for this little incident," she said, bowing, "family matters are not to be brought into the tennis court."

She stood upright and walked towards the exit, passing Momoshiro, Eiji and Fuji, who all moved out of her way.

"Inteview for what?" Ryoma asked, very much intrigued.

Lina turned, Rei beside her, with a smirk, she said, "I'm enrolling into Seishun Gakuen, otouto-kun."

Ryoma visibly paled.

"Shit," he muttered under his breath.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> What do you think? Should I make this longer? =) I want to know what you think, people. So please, do review?


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:**Alright, people! Officially not a oneshot. =) Ideas started running through my head once I had posted it.

**Ciel Blanche **and ** CherryMari: **Thank you so much for reviewing! For that, this chapter is dedicated to the both of you =)

By the way, for those who want to know, I am a big tennis fan, so I named her Lina because of the Chinese tennis player, Li Na, who was the first Asian to win a Grand Slam in a very long time, she won the French Open. I admire her very much for her determination to win, and her sportsmanship is incredible.

**Disclaimer**: This is for the whole story already. I do not own POT, I only own Lina, the subsequent OCs in the next chapters and snipets of the plot.

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><p>Later that day, after the incident at the tennis court, also know as the A Girl beats up Ryoma incident, the whole Seigaku Tennis Club regulars were in an uproar.<p>

"Echizen!" Momo said, looking at Ryoma accusingly, "you never told us you had a sister."

"Yeah, Ochibi," Eiji agreed, nodding his head, "that took us by surprise. Nee, I'm curious, did you really leave her in the middle of the Nevada desert?"

Ryoma glared at them under his cap as he placed his racquet in his tennis bag, there was a growing bruise on his jaw.

"Does she play tennis?" Fuji asked as he sat on the bench.

"Not anymore," Ryoma replied, not intending to elaborate.

But of course, his teammates being his teammates, demanded for an elaboration.

"Why not?" Oishi asked.

"Was she injured?" Inui asked, "if she has the same reckless attitude as you, then I wouldn't be surprised."

"I'm going!" Ryoma called out as he quickly left the tennis court.

As he walked to the court, he saw a figure in red waiting at the gate, and he realized that it was Lina.

"Hey," she said as he approached, "what the hell took you so long? I've been waiting here for a while."

"Practice," he replied in his usual cold way.

As they started walking home together, because she probably had no idea how to get there, they were relatively silent.

"Do you have a tournament coming up?" She asked, because any kind of silence always unnerved her.

"Yeah, the Tokyo Tournament," Ryoma said, a small smile curving is lips, "our goal this year is the Nationals."

She smiled. She had actually missed this in the last couple of months. You know, after she had been practically abandoned in the Nevada desert by her brother, whom she had a love(Lina)-hate(Ryoma) relationship with. She had actually missed speaking with him.

"How'd you get out anyway?" He asked nonchalantly, as if talking about the weather rather than leaving someone in the middle of the desert, to most likely starve and die.

Now, she was mildly pissed. Mildly.

"I called Rei using the satellite phone," Lina said, recalling the incident.

"Ah," Ryoma smirked, "always relying on Rei, huh?"

"Punk!" She exclaimed, playfully hitting him behind the head.

Halfway to their home, she took off her shoes, feeling very much uncomfortable in them, and walked barefoot, much like her father.

"Outo-san looks like he's having fun here," she commented, making Ryoma smirk.

"It's the girls."

"Always the girls," Lina agreed nodding and smiling. When she saw the bruise on his jaw, she said, "hopefully that goes away soon."

"You don't sound remorseful," Ryoma commented.

"I told you," she shrugged, "I've been waiting to do that for months."

"It didn't have to be that hard," he said placing his hand on his jaw again, wincing as he touched the bruise.

Echizen Lina shrugged, "I guess I just can't control my strength."

"You're a tennis player," Ryoma said, "you're supposed to be able to do it."

"I was," she corrected, sighing as she did.

There was silence again.

"When is the Tokyo Tournament?"

"It starts next weekend," he replied, "after winning there, we'll be advancing to the Kantou Regionals, and then after that, we'll be going to the Nationals."

"I'll be there," she said, laughing as she noticed how cocky and arrogant he still was.

Ryoma noted the sadness in her eyes and smile before looking away, pulling his cap down.

"Where's Rei?" He asked, breaking the silence that had fallen once again.

"She's at the hotel."

"Her family's hotel?"

"Where else? Kami only knows how rich that family is," she said, rolling her eyes.

She paused, and then asked.

"Have you learned any new moves?"

Ryoma looked at her, seeing the longing to play tennis again.

"Yeah," he replied, "a couple of really interesting ones, too."

"You should show me later," she said, excitement in her eyes, "I saw a tennis court at the temple behind the house. Is that where you and outo-san play?"

He nodded hesitantly. Tennis had been a very touchy subject with his sister for the past couple of months.

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><p>When Lina had finally gone to school the next day, wearing a sports suit because she didn't have the school uniform yet, people openly stared at her. Being a true Echizen that she was, she casually ignored the stares and proceeded to go look for her brother, who had once again abandoned her. As she walked, she heard whispers, and she marveled at how fast gossip traveled.<p>

"Is that her? Echizen Ryoma's sister?"

"I heard she beat him up pretty badly."

"Do you think she's good at tennis, too?"

"How violent!"

_Kami, do these people have manners? They speak so loudly! _She thought as she spotted a student with a tennis bag, she decided to go ask him where the tennis courts were, Ryoma was probably there. Readjusting her backpack, she went to the student.

"Excuse me," she said as she came up to the man. He had red hair, and she remembered that he was the one that was having a match with Ryoma the day before.

He looked to her and recognition crossed his face and he said, smiling, "Ah, Ochibi's nee-san!"

"Uhm," she said, a little freaked out at how energetic the guy was, "could you tell me where the tennis courts are? My brother has apparently decided to abandon me again."

"Sure," he smiled at her, as he led her to the courts, he looked at her, curiosity etched on his face, "nee, did Ochibi really leave you in the middle of the Nevada desert?"

"Yes," she replied, "but let's not elaborate. So, what kind of tennis player are you?"

"I play doubles," Eiji grinned, "you? I heard you play tennis, too."

"I was a singles player," she replied, a little uncomfortably.

The tennis courts came into view and she saw Ryoma having a practice match. She felt a longing in her heart, and she wanted to cry.

Eiji must have seen her watching the match, because he said, "that's Oishi Suichiro, my partner in doubles. He's pretty good at singles, too."

As they came closer, most people stopped and stared at her. She took it all in stride, of course, but it was all still very awkward.

The game was looking pretty good, neither of the two were serious, it was just a really very long rally.

"I wonder how long they can keep this up," she said to no one in particular, for Eiji had already moved away, and she was standing by the side of the court.

"Pretty long," a student with glasses said beside her, "there's a 97.5 percent chance that Oishi will lose this one, though."

"You can calculate that?" She asked, curiosity taking over.

"Yes, of course," the guy replied, "Oishi is can't go on very long rallies, really, but this is Echizen's forte."

"He used to be terrible at long rallies," Lina smirked, remembering when she had played with Ryoma a few years before.

"Echizen can now go as long as 100 hits," he replied, as he looked into a small notebook.

Lina didn't say anything, but kept watching the game. The point had gone to Ryoma, after he had hit a volley and Oishi couldn't come up to the net.

"He really did get a lot better," she commented, smiling.

Catching herself, before she went into her tennis obsessed self, she turned to the man with the glasses.

"My name is-"

"Echizen Lina, 14 years old, plays singles tennis," he said cutting her off, "has won ten consecutive championships in the American Juniors Tennis Tournament, Girls Division in three years since the age of 11 and has one Junior Grand Slam. Has stopped playing tennis due to-"

She stared at the man a tad bit angrily, quickly interrupting him, "how do you even know that?"

"You shouldn't ask, nee-san," Ryoma said, coming out of the court, wiping his face with a small towel, he winced when he touched the towel to his bruise, "he has his ways of research, it'll just confuse you."

"You!" She said, tearing her eyes away from the guy with the glasses, who she now labeled a stalker, and turned her attention to her little brother, "how could you leave me at home? You know I have no sense of direction."

"I left you in the desert, I think I have enough guts to leave you at home," he said, "if you have no sense of direction, how'd you get here then?"

"I followed students," she admitted embarrassed.

"Why don't you go to class then?" He pestered on, "why go here?"

"Well, I wanted to tell you not to _leave without me_ later, after school," she replied.

"I have practice after school," the younger Echizen said.

"I'll wait for you, then," she said, folding her arms over her chest.

The conversation was interrupted by the regulars approaching.

"Echizen!"

Both Echizens snapped their heads to the side, where several guys were, wearing the team jacket.

"I meant Ryoma-kun, but okay," the tall guy said.

Ryoma sighed, knowing what they wanted.

"Nee-san, these are the Seigaku regulars," Ryoma introduced, his tone bored and monotonous, he motioned to each one as he introduced her, "Momo-senpai, Eiji-senpai, Oishi-senpai, Fuji-senpai, Kawamura-senpai, Kaidoh-senpai and," he turned to the guy with the glasses, "Inui-senpai."

Having spent a part of her life in America, it took her a while before she remembered to bow, saying, "I am Echizen Lina, and thank you so much for taking care of Ryoma. I know his arrogant and cocky attitude is hard to put up with," standing upright again, she said, "I'm actually surprised no one here has attempted to kill him yet, I know I've wanted to."

The guys laughed, and just then, there was a loud chiming, which Lina guessed to be the signal that classes had started.

The group walked back into the building.

_Maybe it won't be so bad,_ she thought as she looked back at the tennis court.

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><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong> So, what do you think? I'd like your opinion on whether or not Lina should end up with anyone, and if so, who should it be. Feel free to review about it =) And thank you for reading. Now, please, review =)


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** Wow! I'm on a roll here =) Anyways, thank you so much for the reviews, the alerts and the faves, I am motivated by these to really make a good story. To those who read it, I thank you, too. But I really wish you guys would review. I'd honestly like to hear your opinion =)

**Ciel Blanche**: Thank you! Honestly, I found Ryoma adorable, too. It's hard to keep him in character, and I honestly think that he might be a bit OOC, but meh. It's a fanfic, right? Oh, and thank you for the suggestion on the pairings, I will definitely keep that in mind. I have to say, I was also leaning on the same guy for Lina, there =) The thought honestly brought a lot of scenes to mind =)

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><p>Echizen Lina sat at the back of the room and, much like her little brother, she wasn't paying attention.<p>

She looked to the side and saw a guy with brown hair and glasses, who, she had been informed by the other girls in class, was Tezuka Kunimitsu, the Seigaku Tennis Club captain. He looked generally scary and strict, so she tried not to speak to him, or even look at him.

But as it was, she was bored and continued to stare, albeit discreetly.

There was a chiming on the PA and it was time to go home, or, for her, time to go and wait for her little brother, who absolutely had no qualms on leaving _her_ behind. Kami, she was so kind. And yes, she was definitely not letting that go.

She headed to the tennis courts, well, more like she _found_ the tennis courts. She really had a bad sense of direction.

Sitting on a bench under a tree, leaning slightly forward, she watched the club practice. She sat there for a while, observing and making mental criticisms on each of the non-regular players.

"Are you planning to join a club?" The man with the glasses, Inui, said, appearing behind her.

"You just appear everywhere, don't you?" Lina said, not bothering to look back. She sighed, "no. I'm not. Clubs don't interest me right now."

"Why are you sitting around here then?" Inui asked, though it sounded more for courtesy of continuing the conversation than genuine curiosity.

"I'm waiting for Ryoma," she said simply, "besides, call me a perv or whatever, but I enjoy watching tennis practices."

He said nothing, and Lina enjoyed listening to the bounce of the balls, the hits of the racquets and the shouts of the players.

Fixing her gaze on a non-regular player, she commented, "his form is off," she inhaled, straightening, "if he changed his grip, his shots would go faster and he'd have more control." Turning her gaze to another player and leaning back on the bench, she continued her observations, "that guy has an amazing amount of strength, he could be an asset if only he improved his stamina."

Inui waited for her to continue. Her observations were quite true, for those had been his own as well. She had a good eye for seeing those which most did not see. But then again, she was Echizen Ryoma's sister, it was probably a family thing.

Standing up to stretch, she continued, "as far as I've observed, the Seigaku Tennis club focuses on training the people who are on the team to the Nationals, but those who don't make it seem to get neglected. Some of them are even starting on developing some interesting techniques. The first years are obviously itching to play, but I don't understand why they're stuck at picking up balls."

Lina turned to him and waited for him to say something, but he remained quiet.

She continued her monologue, feeling as if she were speaking to herself, "you have a plethora of talent and, what looks to me at least, passion here at Seishun Gakuen, Inui-san, if you could cultivate that…" she shook her head, getting carried away, "…wow. Seigaku could have the best tennis team not just in Tokyo, but in the whole of Japan."

Inui didn't reply to her passionate monologue, and she felt a little disturbed by his silence.

Lina turned to the courts once again, and she saw the coach shouting about something she couldn't quite make out.

She turned to Inui, and then asked, trying to break the awkward silence, "aren't you supposed to be over there?"

"Not really," Inui said, finally breaking out of his silence, "they're doing fine without me."

"Where's the captain?" She asked, "shouldn't he be watching over his team?"

"He' s out on an errand," he replied, "but he definitely takes his captaincy seriously."

"I don't question that," she said, amused at the sense of loyalty that the creepily well-informed man had for Captain Tezuka.

She sat back down on the chair, she focused on watching the practices for a while, and when she had turned to say something to Inui, he was gone.

She smirked as she stood, no one was going to get in her way.

Lina walked towards the non-regular that she had been eyeing for the past couple of minutes.

"Hey, you!" She called out, she did it twice before he looked up, "what's your name?"

"Arai Masashi," he answered hesitantly.

She hesitated a bit, but her more impulsive side won out.

"I'm going to teach you a serve," she smiled, "I think it suits you."

Yes, she definitely shouldn't be doing this, especially because she had decided to no longer play tennis.

But to hell with _that_.

"Alright," he answered after more hesitation.

She smirked and entered the court area. After some stretching on her part, she grabbed a racquet that was just lying around – the owner of which she had no idea of – and went into the court, standing at the baseline.

"Watch carefully, Arai-san," she said, testing the tension on the racquet by lightly hitting the gat on her wrist, "this is one of my best serves, and I can't believe I'm actually teaching it to you. See if you can return it."

Arai had gone to the other side, holding his racquet at ready, this woman was an Echizen, so he had better watch himself. There were some first and second years who had gathered around, but Lina was focused. She hadn't done this for months. She swung the racquet several times, and tried imitating her serve without the ball before she was ready to actually do it.

She breathed deeply, bouncing the ball, and calming her heart which was pounding the way it did whenever she did serves, but more so now after months of not playing.

Lina served.

Arai watched as the ball was thrown in the air and hit with a racquet, but it all happened so fast that the next thing he heard were gasps of amazement from those who were watching them. He looked back, his eyes widening as he saw that the ball was already behind him, rolling on the ground, and there was a line from where it landed to where it was at that moment.

"What was that?" Arai exclaimed.

"The Arrow Serve," she told him, "do you want to learn it?"

"Yes," he said, this time with no hesitation at all.

"I personally think that the serve is well suited for you," she said, "you seem to be an aggressive type of player. It doesn't bounce, and that means that you have to put an incredible amount of spin on it, it's a tricky serve to learn."

"I'm up for it," he said, determined.

Just then, Ryoma entered the courts, and called her.

"Oh, Ryoma," she said, smiling uneasily. She'd been caught.

He stared at her, urging her to hurry.

"I'm going, I'm going," she said, putting the racquet back in its place and walking past him, running over to her bag and back.

They walked back to their home in relative silence.

Ryoma kept glancing at her, and Lina knew that she was definitely in for a sermon.

"Just say it," she said, breaking the silence.

"I'm not going to," he replied. He wasn't the type to scold someone over their own decisions, which, of course, left Lina to scold herself and tell herself what he was definitely thinking.

"It doesn't matter if you say it," she said exasperatedly, "I know what you're going to say anyway."

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"It's probably in the line of 'Lina, you're definitely going to regret this' or 'teaching someone your serve is like giving away your guns in a war' or 'you're not supposed to be playing tennis anymore'," she enumerated, "I know how you think, otouto-kun."

He was silent and this was encouragement enough for Lina to continue her monologue, which she's had a lot of today.

"I like seeing people work hard, Ryoma," she sighed, smiling, "people who work hard need rewards, and learning a new technique is reward and encourages people to work even harder. It's important for me to help people that way."

After a while of listening to her justify herself, Ryoma answered quietly, "I know."

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><p>"Echizen!" Momoshiro said as he came in for morning practice, "I heard your sister's teaching serves to the club members."<p>

"Only one, Momo-senpai," he answered as he took out the racquet from his bag.

"I heard it was an amazing serve, too," Momo continued, "it didn't bounce! Great for aces and tie-breakers."

"Do you think she'd mind teaching me that?" Kawamura said, entering the conversation.

Echizen ignored them for most of the morning practice.

When they were nearly done, he saw Lina approach, still wearing a sports attire.

"Could you stop leaving early?" She exclaimed exasperatedly, glaring at her younger brother, "I'm not getting any better at going here, you know."

"Maybe you should just wake up early so I wouldn't have to leave you behind," the younger Echizen shrugged as he put away his racquet.

The older Echizen scoffed and threw a stray tennis ball at the younger before leaving the courts.

"She has abandonment issues, doesn't she?" Eiji said, coming up beside him, watching as Lina walked into the building.

"Probably," Ryoma answered, heading to the locker room to change into his uniform.

After changing, he left the courts and went to class.

Things were still as bad as yesterday, with people_ still_ staring at him and his bruised jaw. He was actually even considering putting concealer on it so people would stop staring. Don't misunderstand, he could totally take being stared at, he just didn't like the _reason_ for it at the moment.

He was definitely going to avenge himself for this.

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><p>Lina was, once again, at the bench under a tree, waiting for Arai Masashi to change, so she could teach him the Arrow Serve.<p>

Of course, she had only chosen Arai, but apparently, word spread fast – Kami, they spread really fast – and more tennis club members appeared, all carrying racquets, ready to learn the serve with him.

"What are you all doing here?" She asked incredulously at the group of tennis players in front of her.

"They said that they had wanted to learn the Arrow Serve, too" Arai said, slightly embarrassed.

"No!" She exclaimed, "I'm only teaching it to you."

"Please! We promise to be good students," one of the players said.

She made a sound that sounded like a cross between a groan and a sigh. "The Arrow Serve is more for Arai-san's kind of tennis," she explained, "if you play the same tennis as him, then I'd probably consider, but don't get your hopes up."

That, however, didn't discourage any of them.

Kami, help her. This was getting way out of hand. She was just supposed to teach Arai the serve, and go back to her recent relatively tennis-free existence.

_Ha! Like I'm ever going to lead a tennis-free existence,_ she chided herself.

"Seriously, people!" She said, raising her voice just a bit, cutting through all of their persuasions, "I am only teaching Arai-san the serve as of this moment, no exceptions!"

Raising her voice seemed to carry out its intended effect. The players all headed to the tennis courts, leaving Arai with her.

She explained the dynamics of the serve, and showed him how to hold the racquet. She demonstrated the serve without the ball and corrected and commented his form.

"Turn your arm this way," she said, holding her arm up to demonstrate, "it helps create spin on the ball and control it."

She saw Coach Ryuzaki approach and felt her heart stop.

_Shit! I'm screwed,_ she thought, her eyes widening as the woman came closer.

"Echizen, let's talk," she said, stopping a few feet from her.

_Fuck_, Lina thought as she nodded.

She was most definitely screwed.

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><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>: There you go, people. Next chapter will be up most likely within the week, but I can't promise anything. Maybe if you guys review, I'll be more inspired to put it up earlier *hinthint*

Please review? Thank you!


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **Hey guys! Once again, thank you so much for the reviews, alerts and faves. Those really motivate me to continue writing this story. Thank you so much!

**easily1994addicted**: Thank you! When I hear things like that, I get very motivated to continue writing. There are pairings for this, but nothing is really final yet, I actually have one in mind already. But do you mind suggesting? I'd love to hear your opinion on the pairings.

**iwoebegone:** Thank you very much. I am flattered by your review. I find Lina quite amusing as well, she has a kind of personality wherein she's quite passionate for little things as she is for big things. The relationship between her and Ryoma, now that I do re-read it, is exactly like what you had described, which makes me quite happy that you'd notice that. Thank you so much for your review.

To everyone else, enjoy!

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><p>Arai Masashi waited for Lina to come back from talking with Coach Ryuzaki. He practiced a few more times, making sure to keep her criticisms in mind. He was determined to learn the serve that didn't bounce.<p>

When she had come back, she had a thoughtful expression on her face.

"What happened?" He asked as she approached.

She didn't answer but she looked back, instead, to the coach, who was already at the tennis court. She shook her head, swallowed and took a deep breath.

"Let's continue, shall we?" She said, smiling up at him.

She coached him absentmindedly, correcting and commenting on his form every now and then. Mostly, she sat on the bench in a daze.

She sighed as she stood up, the practice was finishing and Ryoma was already fixing up his things.

Looking at Arai, she said, "your form for the Arrow Serve is still in need of improvement, but you're getting there. It's a serve that greatly relies on your strength, otherwise it'll just be a normal serve, and we don't like those, do we? So, you have to increase your strength and speed."

He absorbed everything she said like a sponge, nodding vigorously.

"Tomorrow, then?" He asked eagerly, making her smile.

"Morning or afternoon practice," she said, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and turning to leave.

"Arigatou," he replied before leaving as well.

She sighed as she headed to wait at the gate of the school.

While walking home, Ryoma observed his older sister, who was unusually silent. It wasn't right because she was never comfortable with silence. She was always the one to break it whenever it fell. There was definitely something wrong.

"What happened?" He asked after some hesitation. He didn't like asking about problems, it just brought on more issued that he didn't want to get involved in.

"Just thinking about stuff," she sighed.

He waited for her to elaborate, which she eventually did.

"I was asked to be the coach and manager to the boy's tennis team."

He stopped and stared at her, frowning.

She stopped as well, a little bit ahead of him. She turned and said, her voice held both seriousness and sadness, "I know, okay? I know."

"Will you do it?" He asked when they had started walking again.

"I don't know," she said in nearly a whisper.

Ryoma didn't say anything. It wasn't his decision to make anyway.

But he did wish that she'd make the right one.

* * *

><p>Ryoma woke up early the next morning, and the first thing he heard were the hitting of tennis balls to the ground.<p>

His curiosity eventually won out and he got off the bed to head to the temple's tennis court.

The sky was still dark and the place was so quiet that the bouncing sounds echoed through the house. It couldn't be his father, the old geezer always woke up relatively later than he did, and his cousin didn't play tennis. So it was either his mother or his sister.

The hits were strong, so it had to be Lina.

When Lina came to view, he saw that she was picking up tennis balls and placing them in a small bucket.

"How long have you been here?" Ryoma asked, the unusual tone of worry present in his voice.

She looked up at him from her crouching position, and smiled a small smile, "don't worry," she made a small grunt as she stood up, "I've only been here for ten minutes, okay?"

She saw his shoulders relax, but the expression on his face didn't change.

"Why are you out here anyway?" He asked, upon seeing the red racquet she was using, he said, "and is that my racquet?"

"Oh, sorry, I couldn't find any other racquet," she said as she placed the small bucket at the baseline, taking one of its contents. Grabbing the racquet from the ground, she threw the ball up in the air and served.

Lina was quiet as she served several times, until all the balls were gone from the bucket. Ryoma watched at the side, his shoulders tense and his face unreadable. She sighed as she picked up the bucket again and collected the balls. Upon gathering them all, she went back to the baseline and started to serve again.

Halfway through, when her breathing came in short intakes and every hit made her give a small shout, she sighed, resting her arms to her sides, "I can't do it."

She was shaking her head and her voice was cracking.

Looking at him, she drew in a deep breath, "I can't give up tennis, Ryoma."

He looked down. He always knew she couldn't, even when she seemed really serious about giving it up.

She loved tennis more than anything, it was almost occult.

"What are you going to do?" He asked after a while.

She answered moments later, "I think I'll do it. Coaching, I mean," she smiled, shrugging, "it sounds interesting, I like bossing people around and shouting out their flaws. Plus, I still get to play some tennis."

He smirked at her, "sounds very much like you."

* * *

><p>"I'll do it," Lina told Coach Ryuzaki during the morning practice by the tennis courts.<p>

"Glad to hear that," the older woman smiled, "it'd be very nice to have a pro as our coach."

"But I have only two conditions," she replied firmly, holding two fingers up, ignoring her last statement.

The coach waited for her to continue.

"First, I will coach and train the players my way," she stated, "I don't want to be told what to do, suggest maybe and even advise, but don't ever dictate how I will coach the team."

The coach nodded slowly, "and the second?"

"I'll only train the non-regulars," she said, "the regulars are already strong as it is, and will keep getting stronger by themselves. It's the non-regulars that I want to coach."

Coach Ryuzaki was silent for a moment before she nodded, "alright, I see your point there. But I will have to ask you to help asses the regulars every now and then, as manager, of course."

"I guess we have a deal, sensei," Lina smiled as she shook the coach's hand.

The courts were still relatively empty, only most of the regulars and some non-regulars. Ryoma and Lina had left home early (Ryoma didn't leave her!). She was still wearing a sports suit, though. They were one of the first to arrive, and Lina immediately went to speak to the coach.

"We'll announce it when everyone arrives," the coach said, smiling as she watched the team.

She smiled nervously, still having second thoughts of her decision. She stood outside the courts and watched the practice.

The promise she made to herself was broken, and now she was really going to start getting involved with tennis again. She shook her head, smile spread over her lips. Who was she kidding anyway? She was never going to let tennis go. Kami help her when she'd do that. She'd go crazy.

But seriously, she was still nervous. She hadn't gotten involved with tennis in months.

When all of the members of the Seishun Gakuen Tennis club were present, Coach Ryuzaki called them to assemble, Tezuka beside her. Lina sat outside the court, near the entrance, hidden from view. Kami, her heart was pounding pretty fast.

"This announcement is mainly for the non-regulars, but it will also be affecting the regulars," she started. Most of them looked at one another, curious, "we have a new coach joining us today, as well as a manager," all paid attention to her words, "this coach is a pro. For her age it is amazing that she has won national tournaments in America ten consecutive times in three years and has won a Junior Grand Slam. We are lucky that she has chosen to accept this position."

Now there were small murmurs among the members, and some already had a guess as to who it was. Lina stood up and felt confidence rush through her. She was more than qualified to coach this team.

"Treat her nicely, and maybe she'll go easy on you," the coach smirked.

"Not a chance," Lina said walking into the court.

"Our new coach and manager, Echizen Lina," Coach Ryuzaki introduced as Lina bowed.

There was an eruption of murmurs in the assembly.

"Pay attention!" Tezuka shouted and there was immediate silence. Lina had a hard time containing her laughter.

"Any words, coach?" The Math teacher smiled, motioning for the new coach to step forward.

She hesitantly stepped forward, she started, "I've already cleared this with Ryuzaki-sensei," taking a deep breath she said, "I'm only coaching the non-regulars," the non-regulars all looked at one another, a pleased expression plastered on their faces, which made Lina continue on, smiling, "I will be managing the club as a whole, though, and I'll work very hard for the club, so, please do put up with me."

There were smiles on everybody's faces, though Lina didn't really get why.

"Alright!" The coach raised her voice, clapping her hands together, "back to practice!"

As they all walked back to their respective courts, Lina looked at the coach, "I guess now I'll be obligated to teach everyone a serve?"

The older woman only laughed and walked away.

"Nee, so you really won a Grand Slam, Lina-san?" Eiji said, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. With him was Fuji and Oishi.

"Yeah," Lina replied, "but I think I was really lucky."

"Are you sure you're Echizen's sister?" Oishi joked, "you don't sound like him."

"Ryoma and I are quite different," Lina said, and Fuji thought that there was an odd tone in her voice.

"Why only non-regulars?" Fuji asked.

"I've seen you guys play," she shrugged, "you guys don't need coaching as much as the non-regulars."

"We're flattered by your compliment, especially from a pro," Oishi smiled.

"I don't really play anymore," she said as she left the courts, feeling slightly uncomfortable by the topic.

When she was out of earshot, Eiji said, "I wonder why she doesn't play tennis anymore."

Both regulars shrugged, and Fuji said, "an injury perhaps?"

"Maybe," Oishi said as he watched Lina and the non-regulars.

* * *

><p>"People!" Lina said, raising her voice to call the attention of her new trainees, "I'll just begin with saying that I'm excited to start working with you," <em>because this will be the first time I'll be getting involved in tennis for months<em>, "during afternoon practice today, we'll be doing a skills assessment, so please do arrive early."

"Hai!" They all answered.

"Now, get back to practice!" She shouted.

They all shuffled along, doing mostly racquet swings and quick rallies. Lina was able to observe the players and made mental notes as to her criticisms and comments, saving them all for later, during the afternoon practice.

"What are you thinking?"

She turned to see Captain Tezuka behind her, watching the practice as well.

"I think they have a great potential," she replied, turning back to practice, "with hard work combined with their inherent talent, Seigaku could win the Nationals for years to come."

"A goal we are all hoping to accomplish and start this year," he said.

"I'd definitely like to help sustain it, then," she replied.

"Thank you," he said quietly and left.

_Man, that guy is really serious_, she thought as she watched the captain walk away.

When morning practice was finished, she headed to her classroom, Fuji and Tezuka in front of her, because she was still having a hard time getting to class.

"Don't we turn here?" She asked pointing to the corridor they just passed.

"No, that leads to the teacher's lounge, Echizen-san," Fuji replied.

"Oh, alright, I have to remember that."

They were silent for a few moments, and Lina fidgeted uncomfortably behind the two tall men in front of her.

"So, uh, what's the lineup for the Tokyo Tournament?" She asked as they passed other students.

"We're still not sure yet," Tezuka replied, "we still have to see who'd be best for what place."

"I see," Lina replied.

"What are you planning to do for training?" Fuji asked kindly as they walked up the stairs.

"Well, I was thinking of creating a specific program for everyone, depending on what they lack," she said, "I want them to be well rounded players before they go on to play whatever tennis they want to play."

"That's a good objective," the captain commented, "well rounded players are flexible."

"Exactly," she said, "and they can play doubles and singles."

Fuji was nodding in agreement, and they stopped at his classroom, "see you later."

The new coach and the captain both headed towards their classroom in silence.

Kami, this was awkward.

The afternoon practices dragged on as Lina assessed each player by making them do sprints, practice rallies with each other and simple serves. She had a notebook with her where she wrote what the players' strengths were and what they had lacked. Some had powerful serves or could go on rallies very long, but all of them didn't have as much stamina as she was comfortable with.

She was going to be very thorough with her assessment and specific programs for each player. But there were also players which were diamonds in the rough, she could see them as regulars already.

Well, she could see them as regulars _after_ she was done with them.

Oh, yes. This was going to be a long weekend.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> So, guys, I'm pretty sure you're all tired of me telling y'all to review. So just do it, okay? Maybe I'll update faster, and longer chapters, too =)

Thank you for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: **Hello readers! I would like to thank you all for reading this story, and for all the faves, reviews and alerts.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>The weekend came and went, and when Monday arrived, Lina finally had her uniform, although she would have gladly kept wearing her sports suit.<p>

Her weekend had been spent going through her notes from the skills assessment during the afternoon practice on Friday, making specific training programs for the players under her care. She finished the programs already and was ready to give them to the specific trainee that they were meant for.

She was so excited.

Lina had purposely let Ryoma go before her and she had asked her mom to drive her to school, because she was bringing in something pretty heavy. She looked at the bag and sighed, well, that would be hard to bring in.

She looked at herself in the mirror, her uniform was neat, her hair was neatly gathered into a ponytail, and she even got one of those book bags that most Japanese students had. She smiled and went down, getting her cousin to help her with the bag.

"So you're playing tennis again?" Her mom asked while driving, glancing at the tennis bag at the back and then at her, a worried expression on her face.

"Just coaching, okaa-san," she reassured, though she wasn't quite sure if she was playing tennis again.

"Be careful, okay?" Her mother said as they pulled up in front of school.

As she went out of the car, she spotted Kawamura and Kaidou.

"Kawamura-san! Kaidou-san!" She called out as they approached, waving them over. She ignored the scary look that Kaidou directed at her.

She opened the door and pulled the heavy tennis bag to the side.

"Could you please help me with this? It's pretty heavy," she asked.

"Sure," Kawamura said while Kaidou simply nodded.

Kaidou tried to carry it by himself, but had a hard time, with his own tennis bag and all, so Kawamura helped him, both carrying one side of the bag.

"What is in this bag?" Kawamura exclaimed as they were nearing the courts.

"Just some equipment," she smiled.

"Some equipment?" Kaidou commented, "are these weights?"

Lina didn't say anything and she had them set the bag down in the tennis court where the non-regulars trained.

She was utterly surprised at how they greeted her.

They all stopped at what they were doing and bowed in her direction as she entered, saying, "good morning, coach!"

Snapping out of her shock, she called them to assemble as Kawamura and Kaidou left. Carrying her notebook with her, she stood in front of them.

"Over the weekend," she started, her voice loud, "I worked on training programs for each of you, to strengthen what you are weak at. There will be different programs for each of you, and even though some parts are similar, please don't even compare."

She paused, taking a deep breath, and called out several names and dictating what they would be doing for morning practice. She did this for several more minutes.

"Lastly, Arai Masashi, Yoshimura Shun, Nagayama Michio and Fushimi Ayata," she enumerated, "please come see me here," taking a deep breath, she dismissed the others, telling them to do what she had told them to.

The four players she had called all went to her, and she leaned on the metal border of the court.

"I'm going to ask you guys two very important questions," she said, when they nodded she continued, "do you guys want to get stronger?"

There was no hesitation when they all nodded and some said, "yes."

"Are you willing to work hard?" She asked.

They all nodded.

Lina smiled and said, "then bring me _all_ your racquets, even the spares." They looked confusedly at each other and before they could say anything she said, "just do it, okay? Trust me. I'm the coach."

They brought them all, totaling in nine racquets of different colors.

"Place them over there," she said, tilting her head to the side near the wall. They did.

When they came back, she dragged the heavy tennis bag she had brought in front of them and took four silver racquets out. The four trainees didn't really see anything special about them.

Until she gave it to them.

"This is heavy," Arai commented when Lina had given him one of the racquets, immediately resting the tip on the floor.

She finished giving them all a racquet before saying, "those are weighted racquets," she looked at the boy with kindly brown eyes and addressed him, "Nagayama-san, yours weighs two kilograms," turning her gaze to the boy with black hair, she said, "Yoshimura-san, that racquet weighs three kilograms," turning to the boy with grey eyes, "Fushimi-san, that weighs four kilograms," and finally looking at Arai, "Arai-san, if you get the pattern, then you'd already know that that racquet weighs five kilograms."

"Why?" Fushimi said, lifting the racquet slowly, "why do we need to use weighted racquets?"

"To increase the strength and speed of your hits," she shrugged as if they should have already understood, "as I see it, the four of you are already well rounded as it is, but don't get me wrong, you guys still could use a lot of improvement," she shifted her gaze to each one, "it's just that this is the next level."

"How long will we be using these?" Yoshimura asked as he tried to swing the racquet.

"Until you get used to it," Lina replied, her tone and expression serious, "you will use that racquet until you feel that it weighs like a normal racquet."

They looked at her incredulously.

"Until then," she said, picking up the racquets leaning on the wall. _Their_ racquets. She smiled at them and said, "I'll be keeping these."

She placed them all into the tennis bag, making it bulgy.

"Are you serious?" Nagayama asked in disbelief.

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Lina replied, her voice containing a slight edge, "if you want to be stronger, do what I say. If you don't want to, then please, do feel free to leave."

They were all silent.

After a while, she said, "pair up with each other and go have a practice match."

They did as she said and she went around to see what her other trainees were doing. She saw out of the corner of her eye that the four she had chosen were having a hard time playing. Their serves and hits were slow and usually hit the net. It was Arai against Fushimi and Nagayama against Yoshimura.

She hoped she had chosen right.

Ryoma watched the non-regulars at the side of the court. His sister was damned harsh.

He saw some that were doing push ups, sit up and squats. Others were doing pull ups, and were running. Everyone was doing something, and on the two courts he saw people have a match. He briefly wondered why the serves were slow, even _they_ couldn't be that bad, and then he realized that they were holding the silver weighted racquets.

He remembered those weighted racquets, and if Lina was willing to let someone borrow those, then she was pretty serious about coaching.

Kami help the non-regulars.

* * *

><p>The week passed without worries, and Lina smiled as the afternoon practice right before the Tokyo Tournament ended. All of the non-regulars were gone, and the only ones left were the regulars.<p>

She was watching as Ryoma was having a practice match with Momoshiro. She was wearing her sports suit, which she now changed into every afternoon practice.

"Lina-san," Fuji said, coming up beside her, "how's the training going? I haven't really been able to check up on it."

Lina smiled, "we're doing fine, really. They complain too much, though."

Fuji smiled, "I hear that you're a strict coach."

"Well, better strict than lax, right?" She shrugged, and then suddenly looked at him, realizing, "are you saying my trainees talk about me behind my back?" She clenched her jaw and squinted her eyes, "those little punks, fifty laps on Monday."

Fuji laughed, "just some murmurings and whispers here and there."

"What do they say?" She asked energetically, very much intrigued.

"I don't believe I should be telling you," he replied, turning his attention back to the match.

"Yes, you should!" She said, a smile curling her lips, "it concerns me, so I think I should be hearing this."

Fuji smiled but kept silent.

"Please?" She said.

"No," He replied, shaking his head.

"Fine," she said, disappointed, and then said determinedly, "but I will find out, you know."

"I'm sure you will," Fuji replied, "just not from me."

She childishly stuck her tongue out at him.

Seeing Eiji approach, she asked him fiercely, "am I a harsh coach? And what have you heard about me from the non-regulars?"

Eiji was taken by surprise and took a step back, "uh, why do you ask, Lina-san?"

"Have you?" She persisted looking expectantly at him.

Feeling as if anything he would say would most definitely incriminate someone, he decided on a safe answer, "I haven't heard anything as of the moment," he took a step back and went back to the direction from which he came, retreating.

"Inui-san?" She pleaded turning to face the stoic guy.

"I'm not saying anything," he said immediately, leaving her with Fuji.

At that point, she had no one else to ask because all the others were having matches.

"I will find out," she vowed.

"Do you really want to find out?"

"Yes, I want to know what people say about me," she shrugged.

"Play one game with me."

She looked at him, and he looked at her with his sharp eyes. He was serious.

"One game," she repeated, hesitantly nodding her head, _just one game anyway,_ "I win one and you'll tell me."

"Fine with me," he said returning to his usual way of smiling.

She grabbed one of Ryoma's spare racquets and they chose an empty court at the end. She actually realized that she should have been more hesitant to play tennis, but, the whole you're-no-longer-associating-yourself-with-tennis rule was thrown out the window a week ago.

They agreed on alternating serves. She was to serve first, and wanting to finish it early, she started with the Arrow Serve.

"Fifteen-love," she smirked as the ball didn't bounce. Yeah, she's still got it.

"Nice start," Fuji said as he picked up the ball, which had rolled behind him.

"I really want to know," she shrugged, a smirk plastered on her face.

How hard could winning a game be?

She stood at the baseline, waiting for his serve. His serve was fast, but she was able to return it. She had the distinct feeling that he wasn't playing seriously, and by the look on his face, she guessed that she was right.

The rally continued for a while, until she did a smash, but he returned that, too, with a shot that didn't bounce.

Shit, four minutes had already passed.

She gulped, by the looks of things, this one game match was going to take longer to finish than she expected. But she just couldn't stop _now_.

"Fifteen all," he smiled at her.

She glared at him and picked the ball up. By that time, Eiji and Inui were at the side, watching the match.

"Go, Lina-san!" Eiji cheered good naturedly, "beat Fuji-kun!"

She took a deep breath and served.

It was another Arrow Serve and she knew that it would be the last one fore the match. It was starting to take its toll on her.

"30-15," Inui said at the side.

Fuji served and it became another long rally. He returned all her shots and she felt something she hadn't felt in a long time.

She felt excitement.

And fear.

It didn't take this long to finish a game.

He scored a point when he hit the ball to the empty side of the court and she wasn't able to run up to it, falling to the ground. She got up and dusted herself off.

"30 all," Eiji said.

"Seven minutes," Ryoma said, standing next to Inui, his expression was serious and grave, but he did nothing to interfere.

She was still within the time limit anyway.

"I'll stop in eight minutes," Lina said after picking up the ball, looking and pointing the racquet at him.

Ryoma watched the one game match with increasing worry, though it didn't show on his face. He could also see the smile on her face as she played. Kami, it had really been a long time since he saw her _this_ excited.

"This is very dangerous for her, Echizen. There's a 87.53 percent chance that sh-" Inui said beside him, but Ryoma cut him off.

"If she says she'll stop in eight minutes, she'll stop in eight minutes," Ryoma said with much conviction, more to reassure himself than Inui.

She served a simple slice serve and Fuji easily returned it. There was another rally, and Fuji was pretty serious at that point. Ryoma noticed that his sister was still as fast as before, and her shots were still as strong.

When Fuji made a shot to the empty side of the court, she quickly ran up to it and hit it to the empty side of Fuji's court. He was going to hit it after it bounced, but the ball didn't bounce straight at all, it bounced sidewards, close to the ground, the side of his racquet hit it and the ball hit the net.

"40-30," Momoshiro said, surprising Lina.

Kawamura, Oishi, and Kaidou were there, even Tezuka was watching. They all wanted to see how a pro played.

When did they all get here?

"You have five minutes, nee-san," Ryoma reminded her.

Fuck, ten minutes had already passed. She could feel the strain on her body already.

Lina breathed deeply, moving side to side from the baseline as she waited for him to serve. She didn't know why she was doing this at all, because this sure as hell wasn't about what her trainees were saying about her anymore.

"What was that shot?" Oishi asked as he moved next to Ryoma, so that the youngest regular was in between the two third years.

"It's a shot that goes sidewards, staying close to the ground. It has an unusual amount of spin, so that when hit, the ball can't really be controlled, that is, if it is hit. She named the shot when she was eleven," he answered, smirking despite the situation, "the name's pretty la-."

He cut himself off and held his breath, remaining silent when Fuji served and he watched as Lina froze, unable to return the serve.

"Deuce!" Inui called out.

Ryoma discreetly looked at Inui's watch. She had four minutes to finish the game.

Lina unfroze and shakily grabbed the ball from the ground.

"What happened?" Kawamura asked, "she could've easily returned that."

His question went unanswered because everyone was paying close attention to the match.

Her serve was right on the middle line and Oishi said, "she has great aim, as expected from a pro."

But, of course, Ryoma knew that that was just a lucky shot. Lina never aimed for the middle line.

Fuji hit it back, and another rally started. The serves were fast, and Ryoma knew that Lina was going all out on the game.

Ryoma looked to Inui's watch again.

"Fifteen minutes!" He shouted.

Lina hit the ball one more time before putting both her hands up, looking at Ryoma.

"Alright," she said, she wasn't exactly panting, but her breathing was faster and she was coughing. With a hint of anger and bitterness in her voice, she continued, "I give up."

Her stamina was waning without the practice. He could see a bit of sweat on her face and arms. He felt guilty for stopping her when she was enjoying herself. But whatever.

Everyone looked at her as Ryoma went to get his things and hers.

"Why?" Oishi said, disappointed.

She looked at Fuji, "sorry, Fuji-san, I have to go."

"That's alright," he smiled with his expression back to its contented state after looking at her with his sharp brown eyes.

"That's it?" Momoshiro shouted, "you're not even going to finish the game?"

"Nope," she shrugged with some difficulty, trying to stay still to catch her breath.

"Why not?" Eiji exclaimed, feeling the anticlimactic-ness of the whole situation, "you were winning!"

"Because I have to go home," she said, as if that was reason enough.

Ryoma came back and handed her bag to her, and she took a handkerchief inside and used it to wipe her sweat away.

"I'll just go and change, alright?" Lina said to Ryoma, who nodded.

The siblings changed back into their uniforms before finally leaving the school, heading home.

"Seriously? That's it?" Kawamura said as he watched the Echizen siblings leave the gate.

"I guess," Fuji shrugged as he placed his racquet back in his bag.

"She seemed… hesitant," Oishi commented.

"Lina-senpai seems hesitant to play tennis at all," Momoshiro noted, "even though she looks like she wants to play it all the time."

"Maybe she has an injury?" Eiji suggested, "and that's why she had to quit tennis."

"We don't know," Momoshiro said. He glanced to Inui, "but you would, right?"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> So, what's wrong with Lina? Any guesses? =) Please please _please_ review. I swear, if you're thinking that one review doesn't mean anything, then you are very much wrong. If you review, I promise to update very very soon! Please? =) Thank you!


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** I would like to start off by saying thank you to those who reviewed, faved, and alerted(?). You are awesome!

Secondly, this chapter is actually supposed to be two chapters, but then I thought that it might be better this way, so now you just have a long chapter =)

**xbamsod:** You'll find out in this chapter! =)

**Ciel Blanche:** THANK YOU! You have no idea how much your review just made my day.

So, enjoy reading, and please, please review.

* * *

><p>Ryoma woke up because of the loud banging on his door.<p>

"Ryoma!" Someone was shouting outside, pounding on the door.

It took him a while to recognize that it was Lina on the other side of the door.

"Ryoma!" Lina called out, "we'll be late for the registration!"

He groaned as he sat up, letting the blanket pool at his waist.

The Seigaku regulars were meeting up at 10 o'clock. It was… 9:40. Shit.

"Ryoma! I am going to break this door down if you don't answer right now!"

He immediately opened the door and Lina stared at him in disbelief.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" She shouted as she placed her hand on her forehead.

He didn't say anything as he prepared.

"I'm going to go ahead, Ryoma," Lina said, "and I swear, if you're not there by the time the competition starts, I will really…"

He didn't hear the end of her sentence as she ran down stairs and out of earshot.

* * *

><p>"He's still not here yet," Tezuka said as he monitored his watch.<p>

"Has Oishi contacted him yet?" Fuji asked.

"He's contacting him right now," Eiji said.

"Of all days he chooses to be late, he chooses today," Momoshiro groaned.

They were all in the venue for the Tokyo Tournament, all regulars were there. Well, all except Echizen Ryoma.

Oishi came back to the group and said, "I've contacted him, he says he's helping a pregnant woman."

"Liar," Momoshiro said.

"100 percent lie," Inui said.

Just then, Lina entered, catching her breath.

"Sorry!" She said.

"Where's Echizen, senpai?" Kaidou asked.

"He overslept," Lina said apologetically, "I am so sorry, I didn't wake him up earlier. I just assumed that he was already awake. But he's on his way right now."

"It's alright, Lina-san, it's not your fault," Tezuka said, "but if all regulars aren't here by registration time, the whole team will be disqualified."

Lina muttered a curse under her breath and proceeded to pace around the area. She was wearing a simple white shirt, khaki pants and rubber shoes.

"If he's on his way already, he should probably be able to make it to the competition itself," Ryuzaki said, she pulled out a cap from a bag, "but, of course, we have to get in first."

She looked at Lina, and smirked. Everyone looked to Lina as well, some were grinning.

"What?" Lina said as she stopped pacing.

"She'd pass for him, they're siblings after all," Inui said, "they have practically the same build, just maybe two or three inches difference in height."

Everyone nodded as Lina realized what they were going to make her do.

* * *

><p>"I'm really going to kill him," Lina muttered as she went with the rest of the Seigaku Tennis Team to register.<p>

"Ah, a first year in this year's tournament, huh? Goodluck!" The registrar said and she merely nodded nervously.

She was wearing a cap, her hair gathered inside, and Kaidou's team jacket. She looked exactly like Ryoma, but she was still nervous. What if Ryoma won't arrive on time and she was forced to play? Kami help her.

Fuji watched her fidget, still thinking about their unfinished match yesterday. Inui had absolutely refused to say what Lina's injury or problem was, though they pestered him.

"It's not in my place to say," Inui had said when they asked him and he had remained silent about the topic ever since.

But Fuji was going to admit that she was very good at tennis. Beyond good. She was incredible. He really wanted to have a match with her, and he full well intended to.

"Is anything wrong, Fuji-san?" Lina asked worriedly, looking up at him.

"No, it's nothing," Fuji smiled.

"I hope Ryoma arrives before the competition starts," she said nervously as they went to sit and wait at the benches.

Fuji only smiled to reassure her, though he wasn't quite sure if Echizen would really be able to arrive on time.

A few minutes later, Tezuka came up to the group, "our first matches are starting, we've placed Ryoma in singles three."

Lina gulped, still nervous. If Ryoma didn't arrive by then, she'd have to play.

She felt as if hours passed as she watched Seigaku easily win the doubles matches. The singles three match was quickly approaching, and she found herself praying her hardest that Ryoma would arrive.

"Game, set and match! 6-0, Oishi-Kikumaru pair wins," the referee said, "singles three shall now begin."

Lina felt her heart stop and she looked at Tezuka for help.

"Will you be able to play as Ryoma?" Momoshiro said.

"Are you serious?" Lina exclaimed, "that's che-"

She cut herself off as she saw Ryoma running towards them, still fairly far off.

"Oh thank Kami!" She said in relief.

She quickly left, telling the referee she needed to go the bathroom and she'd be back.

She met up with Ryoma along the way and pinched his cheeks really hard.

"I was about to play!" She exclaimed, "I was so nervous."

"Well, I'm here now," Ryoma shrugged.

Lina simply smiled and waited a few moments before letting him go to the tennis court.

The rest of the tournament went by easily, with Seigaku winning all their matches. By the end of the day they were already in the semifinals, which were to be held on the next weekend.

They had difficulty in the quarterfinals match against St. Rudolph, but they won in the end. They were now watching the game between Fudomine and Hyoutei. Lina was amazed at how many people were cheering for Hyoutei, though they were already losing.

"Those aren't even the regulars," Fuji commented as the match progressed.

"How arrogant," Lina said clenching her jaw, "is Hyoutei Gakuen good?"

"Yes," Momoshiro nodded, "they reached nationals last year."

"Are the regulars at least watching?" Lina said, feeling her agitation grow.

"Yeah, they're over there," Kawamura pointed, "that's the captain."

Lina looked at the captain of Hyoutei Gakuen. Yeah, he looked like the arrogant type.

The matches ended and Lina felt oddly happy that Hyoutei Gakuen lost, she felt as if they deserved it.

After the closing ceremony for the first half of the Tokyo Tournament, the Echizen siblings left.

"The match against St. Rudolph was tricky, huh, Ryoma?" Lina said as they walked home from the tournament.

"Not really," Ryoma shrugged in his usual cocky, arrogant way.

"But that left hander, Fuji-san's brother," Lina said, "he was good, though that move he did could really damage his shoulder. Fuji-san was scary, too."

Ryoma listened to Lina as she assessed the matches, nodding along when necessary.

She was still as enthusiastic at assessing a match as she was before, he smiled at that.

* * *

><p>During afternoon practice on the Monday after the tournament, Lina called Nagayama, Fushimi, Yushimura and Arai together.<p>

"So, how have you guys been doing?" She asked.

"Fine," Arai said, "I've gotten relatively better at using the racquet."

"Yeah," Nagayama agreed, "it's hard at first, but it gets easier."

The other two agreed and Lina smiled.

"Good," Lina said, "because today, you're going to have a match with each other."

She paired Arai and Fushimi together and Nagayama and Yushimura together. She watched the match and was pleased at the progress of the four, especially Arai. He would definitely become a regular next year. His serves were as if he was using a non-weighted racquet. He even surprised her by his near successful attempt at doing the Arrow Serve.

But they were still in need of improvement. There were points lost just because they couldn't hit it with the weighted racquet.

"Alright, alright!" Lina said, calling the two matches to a stop.

The four gathered to her.

"You guys have made progress, and I am very pleased," she said.

The four smiled at the compliment, because they definitely knew what it was worth.

She dismissed them to continue their practice and went to the side of the court.

There was an odd smell, and it took her a while to realize that it was cigarette smoke. She saw the smoker under a tree. He had his hair gelled up, and probably bleached, too. It didn't look to be a student, so she went to go tell him to put it out and leave the grounds.

"Who do you think you're giving orders to?" He said, his voice and expression menacing. He raised his hand and hit her, making her fall to the ground.

He seemed startled when he looked at her. He grabbed her by the jaw and made her stand up. She had her hands around his wrist, trying to pull it away. Lina could taste blood in her mouth and she realized that her lip was busted.

"There's a first year regular in the tennis team, and he looks a lot like you, probably your brother," he said, and Lina could smell the smoke in his breath, "go call him."

She kicked him, and he let her go "yeah, like I'd take orders from you!"

Before she was able to leave, he grabbed her hair and she instinctively screamed.

"Don't even try to run," he said, "just call him."

She stopped struggling for a moment and he loosened his grip. She ran.

She felt something hit her neck, she took a misstep and fell.

She stood up, and since there was now considerable distance between them, she felt emboldened and said, "what're you going to do to him? Just leave already!" She immediately noticed that he was holding a tennis racquet. He had hit her with a stone.

"Nee-san! What's going on?" Ryoma said as he ran in front of her.

"That man's dangerous, Ryoma," Lina said, "don't get near him."

"He doesn't have to," the guy said, picking up some rocks and using the racquet to hit them, "this is for ruining my fun yesterday, kid. Isn't it the best?"

Ryoma was hit, for he was standing in front of her, but one got through and hit Lina on the cheek.

The guy looked at them menacingly and turned to leave, saying, "I'm Akutsu Jin, from Yamabuki, and that was just a greeting."

Ryoma was about to pick up a rock and serve it, but Lina grabbed him and said, "don't, Ryoma."

They watched as Akutsu Jin disappeared from view.

Lina's cheek, neck and lip were bleeding. Ryoma had cuts on his face and there were some on his hands, too.

"Coach! What happened with that guy?" Arai said, appearing beside the two, upon seeing them he said, "are you two alright?"

"We're fine," Lina reassured him, looking to Ryoma, she said, "what did you do to Akutsu Jin to make him so mad?"

Ryoma shrugged, and was angered once again when he saw the injuries on his sister. That bastard.

"Anyways, let's go to the infirmary," Lina said, grabbing Ryoma's hand, and to Arai she said, "you go back to practice."

* * *

><p>"Echizen and Lina-senpai were attacked by a guy from Yamabuki?" Momoshiro repeated as Oishi told them what had happened.<p>

"Yeah," Oishi nodded, "they're treating their wounds in the infirmary."

Momoshiro, Oishi and Eiji were just outside the courts, having already changed back to their uniforms.

"I heard that that guy is a lunatic," Momoshiro said, "he not only hit and harassed Lina-senpai, he hit her and Echizen with rocks."

"We'll most likely be seeing them in the finals," Oishi said.

"That's Sengoku's team," Eiji said.

Just then, the Echizens appeared, and both were heading to the locker rooms.

"Echizen," Oishi said as both passed him by.

"We tripped accidently," both said.

"Both of you stop lying!" Oishi pestered as he followed them, "no matter how you trip, the wounds won't be that bad. How about complaining to the Tokyo Prefecture Junior High Sports Association?"

"We tripped accidentally," the two repeated.

"Forget it, senpai," Momoshiro grinned, "their expressions are saying 'we'll get our revenge.'"

Oishi sighed, "just please don't cause trouble before the match."

* * *

><p>The next morning came and the whole incident had spread among the tennis club members. Lina actually found it amusing how Ryoma was so pumped up, getting ready to take his revenge. Both siblings had gauzes over their wounds from the previous day.<p>

"Coach, is it true?" A freshman, Horio, asked, "you and Echizen were attacked by a guy from Yamabuki?"

"We tripped accidentally," she repeated their cover story, "now, get back to practice."

It didn't go unnoticed by the non-regulars that the coach was stricter in the next four days than the previous days. Kami, she must be really pissed off at that guy from Yamabuki.

When Inui had made the regulars have a one set match against each other after a sprint on Friday, all the non-regulars watched. Lina couldn't blame them, of course, because she watched, too.

While everyone was choosing which game to watch, she was already sure which one she wanted.

"Amazing! It's the captain against Momoshiro-senpai!" she heard the first years saying beside her as she watched Tezuka and Momoshiro enter the court.

Lina had heard that Tezuka was a national-level player, she wanted to see just how good he really was.

She found herself holding her breath every now and then during the match.

Kami, he wasn't just great. He was amazing. To be honest with herself, it wasn't just the captain who was amazing. It was actually the whole team. To have so many talented individuals around her made her so excited.

Her hands twitched, itching to hold a racquet.

There was a thundering in the sky, and she felt water hit her skin, getting stronger and stronger.

"Everybody, clean up the nets! And pick up the balls," she shouted as the rain fell harder and everyone was rushing to get some cover.

From the corner of her eye, she saw that Ryoma and Fuji were still playing, she smiled. Ryoma was really giving his all.

She laughed when she saw Ryoma's face as Ryuzaki-sensei interrupted their match.

Minutes later, when she had changed back to her uniform, the rain began to lighten up.

She was about to call out to Ryoma, but then stopped when she saw him with Momoshiro, about to leave.

Momoshiro saw her and called out, "Lina-senpai! Do you want to join us? We're going to a burger joint."

She smiled and said, "no, thanks. I think I'll go home alone today."

As she was walking away, Ryoma called out, "nee-san!"

She turned back, surprised.

"Can I have some money? I left my wallet at home," he asked perfectly shameless.

"Free-loader," she said, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. But she still took out her wallet and gave him money anyway.

* * *

><p>Lina walked through the tournament grounds, looking for the Seigaku team. She was wearing a yellow floral sun dress and yellow flats, her hair was loose, and there was a bag hanging on her shoulder. Beside her was a girl with long brown curly ended hair, whose eyes were blue. Behind both of them were four men, wearing black suits, carrying carton boxes.<p>

She spotted the team sitting down, looking extremely bored, and she wondered why they didn't have a match at that moment. The other club members were there, too, to cheer the regulars on.

"Hey," she said, as she came closer.

She had to call them twice before they noticed her.

"Lina-san?" Oishi asked.

"Who do you think it is?" She asked, disturbed that they didn't recognize her.

"You're not wearing the usual stuff you wear," Momoshiro shrugged.

"Well, I can be feminine, too," she shrugged, she motioned to the girl beside her, "anyways, this is Kobayashi Rei."

Rei bowed, saying, "thank you for caring for Lina."

"You're the girl who came with Lina the day she punched Echizen!" Eiji said in recognition and Rei blushed.

Lina rolled her eyes and said, "_anyways_, I got you guys food."

Everyone rejoiced at the prospect of food, because they now didn't have to spend their money. The men in suits behind Lina and Rei placed the carton boxes down and proceeded to distribute the bento boxes.

"Did you cook this?" Ryoma said as he opened the bento box, looking at her suspiciously.

"No," she said, laughing at the impossibility, "I got Rei's gourmet chef to do it. Why don't you guys have a match yet?"

"Ginka forfeited," Kawamura said, "they all suddenly got a stomach ache."

"That's unfortunate," the older Echizen replied.

"Are you staying?" Fuji asked as he ate.

She shook her head apologetically, "I have to go somewhere."

"Where?" Momoshiro asked.

"Doctor's appointment," Lina said uncomfortably, "I wish I were here to cheer you guys on, though."

"Don't worry," Ryoma said, "we'll win anyway."

Lina laughed, "I might pass by later on, too," she said as she turned, "so hold on 'til then, alright?"

"Don't freak out at the hospital, nee-san!" Ryoma called out as Lina was walking away, and she childishly stuck her tongue out at him.

"Is there a reason why she's going to the hospital, Echizen?" Eiji asked, being his way too curios self.

"Just a check-up," Ryoma replied quietly, his tone suggested that he wouldn't be elaborating.

* * *

><p>When Lina had come back from her doctor's appointment, the tournament was already finished. The Seigaku tennis team was already on their way out.<p>

"We won the championship," Ryoma shrugged when he saw her.

"That's great," she said, smiling at him, "congratulations, everyone!"

"Yeah, thanks, Lina-san," Oishi smiled.

"It now means that we all have to work harder," Momoshiro said.

"We're getting closer and closer to our goal, right Tezuka?" Fuji smiled, looking to Tezuka.

"Yes," Tezuka said, "we're getting closer to the Nationals."

Everyone nodded enthusiastically.

The regulars decided to celebrate at the Kawamura family Sushi Shop, and they had invited Lina along, being the manager and all.

She followed them absentmindedly, something Ryoma and some of the regulars immediately took note of.

"Lina-chan! Are you ever going to tell us the story of how Ryoma left you in the desert?" Eiji said as he took a seat next to her in the sushi shop.

"Those are memories I'd rather not remember," she laughed as she sipped her drink.

"But we really want to know just how cruel our first year regular can be," Momoshiro said as he ruffled Ryoma's hair.

She ate another sushi before saying, "fine, but I'm not repeating the story, so whoever wants to hear it, gather 'round."

All the regulars sat in a semicircle in front of her.

"So, one day, a couple of months ago, I thought 'hey, why don't Ryoma and I go camping in the desert? We haven't really bonded in a long time,'" Lina started.

A few moments later, she ended with:

"Then I wake up, and his tent's gone, like it was never there. And then I realized, 'that little punk took the Poptarts!'"

There was laughing and snickering as Ryoma looked away, looking very much annoyed.

"He actually left me a small note saying, 'nee-san, going back to the city to play tennis.'"

"He did?" Momoshiro said in surprise.

"That is proof that my brother loves tennis more than he loves me," she replied.

There was more horse playing, and, yes, wrestling. They stole each other's sushi and laughed about it. Even Lina joined in every now and then, but most noticed that if left alone, she seemed to drift off, deep in thought.

Later on, however, she stood up and proposed a toast.

"Congratulations to everyone, you all deserve this win," she said, raising her glass, "I know you all can make it to the Nationals," raising her glass higher, she said, "to Nationals!"

"To Nationals!" Everyone said.

When Momoshiro, Lina and Ryoma were walking home, the older boy pointed out something.

"There's a street tennis court up there," Momoshiro pointed out as they passed a set of stairs, "it's a good place to practice and look for opponents."

"Anybody can play?" Lina asked, looking towards it.

"Yeah," Ryoma replied.

"That's where Ryoma and I first played doubles," the older boy said, laughing at the memory.

"He wasn't any good, was he?" Lina said and ignored the glare that Ryoma gave her.

"Definitely not," Momoshiro replied.

She threw her head back and laughed, "he's too selfish to play doubles."

There was silence for a few moments before Momoshiro broke it, "the Intraschool Ranking Tournament is tomorrow."

Lina observed that the two became grave at the sound of it.

"Don't worry, I'm sure the both of you will do fine."

* * *

><p>"Your kids are doing fine, Lina-san," Ryuzaki-sensei said as she stood next to the younger girl, watching the Intraschool Ranking Tournament from the board.<p>

"I expected as much," Lina replied, shouting at some first years to get out of her view. She had to be the one manning the board area because she was the manager, a decision she was now starting to regret because of all the people blocking her view of the matches, "people! Move!"

"Arai was able to score a two games against Eiji, Fushimi was able to get three games from Momoshiro," the coach smiled, "the non-regulars are really getting stronger under your guidance."

"It's the determination, sensei," she replied, "they really do want to get stronger, I just gave them a route."

The coach smiled, "next year would be interesting, too."

Lina had to smile at that.

None of her trainees would be getting into the regulars, but they were doing well in the ranking tournament. With more hard work, training and coaching from her, they were definitely going to be regulars next year.

"Fuji Syusuke, 6-0," Fuji reported as he stopped in front of the table.

"Nice work, Fuji-san," Lina smiled as she wrote it down.

"Echizen Ryoma, 6-3," Ryoma said, stopping at the table and grabbing one of the water bottles.

"As expected," she sighed as she wrote it down, she saw Oishi approaching and said, "you alright, Oishi-san?"

"Yeah," Oishi smiled, "your brother's strong."

"Well, you're still in the regulars, Oishi-kun, even if you lost to Ryoma," she said.

Something on the board caught Ryoma and Oishi's eyes.

"Momoshiro-kun…" Oishi said.

Lina smiled sadly, looking at the board, across Momoshiro's name was 1-6 and 2-6, "yeah, he lost his regulars position."

The three were silent.

"Inui's gotten really good," Fuji said, "he's collected data on us for the past two months."

"How does it feel?" Ryuzaki-sensei said, "knowing that he's been collecting data on you in the shadows?"

"Creepy," Lina replied, "that man is creepy."

* * *

><p>"Skipping practice, Momoshiro-kun?" Lina said, glaring at Momoshiro.<p>

They were in the street tennis court, where Lina had found Momoshiro. He had been skipping practice for three days already, and Oishi was getting worried.

Her hair was loose, and she was wearing her school uniform.

There was a girl beside Momoshiro, and she wasn't from Seigaku.

"Lina-senpai!" Momoshiro smiled, "just in time, my opponents just left," he tossed her a racquet and looked at her expectantly, "only for five minutes."

She sighed, placed her bag down and went to the opposite baseline.

"An-san, this is Echizen Lina, senpai, this is Tachibana An," Momoshiro introduced. The two girls nodded to each other before Momoshiro served.

"I really think you should go back to practice, Momoshiro-kun," she said as she hit the serve he delivered, "Tezuka-san will really punish you."

"Let's just play tennis for a while, alright, senpai?" He replied nonchalantly.

She sighed as she continued to play.

"I don't understand why you quit, senpai," he said returning her shot, "you have a Grand Slam! You're a pro already, that's everyone's dream here."

"Complications arise," she said as she hit the ball back.

He hit it back with his Dunk Smash.

"You could be a pro, too, Momoshiro-kun," she said as she picked the ball up.

"No he can't," someone said at the side, and Lina and Momoshiro looked to the benches.

There were seven people there, and Lina recognized the uniform from somewhere.

"Are you sure he's a regular, Atobe? Doesn't look like much," one of them said, he had glasses.

"If you're going to insult me, do it in the court," Momoshiro said.

"No, thanks, I don't play doubles," the guy with the glasses replied, "besides, who would you team up with," looking at Lina, "her?"

"She's pro," Momoshiro smirked, "she's way better than you."

"A pro?" The guy who looked to be the leader said, "ah, yes, I heard something about a Grand Slam?"

The arrogance in his voice made Lina remember.

He was the captain of the Hyoutei Gakuen tennis team, and those were the regulars.

"Yes," Lina found herself saying, "the Junior US Open a couple of months ago."

"Ah!" The man said, and Lina felt her agitation increase by the moment, "Echizen Lina, right? I've heard about you."

Lina clenched her jaw. Kami, she was going to do something utterly reckless.

An had come up beside them, looking worried.

"Let's play a friendly match," the man, Atobe, said as he came down to the courts, looking back he said, "Kabaji, hand me my racquet."

The big burly guy did as Atobe said.

Her impulsive side won out, the irritation and annoyance she felt made her say, "fine, one game only, though. I don't like getting tired."

She regretted it the moment she said it, but she was never one to back down from a challenge.

"Fine," Atobe smirked, "but let's sweeten the deal a little, shall we?"

"What?" Lina said as she positioned herself at the baseline and Momoshiro and An moved to the side.

"If I win, you do what I say," Atobe said, "and vice versa."

"I'm starting to think of nasty things to make you do," Lina smirked as she started the game with her signature serve.

At the side, Momoshiro turned to An, a look of worry on his face.

"An, I need you to go to Seigaku, and get Echizen," he told her.

"Why?" An asked.

"I can't stop Lina-senpai if it gets too far," Momoshiro said, "She's not supposed to play for long or something. This could be dangerous for her."

An looked at him and nodded.

"Use my bike," he said as she turned to leave.

He looked back to see that the match was getting very intense.

He hoped An would get there soon.

* * *

><p>Ryoma looked around the court, where was Lina?<p>

"Senpai, have you seen nee-san?" He asked Oishi.

"She went to look for Momoshiro," Oishi said, "she was getting worried about his missing practice for three days, so she went to go look for him."

Ryoma nodded, feeling as if something was wrong.

He continued practice, hitting his serves into the basket.

"Ryoma-kun!"

He looked outside the court and saw Tachinbana's sister, An, breathing heavily, getting off the bike.

Everyone looked at her, wondering why she was there.

"Lina-san is playing against Hyoutei's captain, Atobe," she said in between breaths, "at the street tennis court."

Ryoma froze and felt his heart stop.

When he was able to move again, he unintentionally shouted, "how long has she been playing?"

"I left right after it started," An said, "about eight or ten minutes ago, I think."

Ryoma dropped his racquet and ran.

He was mildly aware that the Seigaku Tennis team, regulars and some non-regulars, was behind him. But he was more focused on running and getting to the street tennis court in time.

Kami, why was Lina doing this?

He knew that no matter how fast he ran, the distance was still too far, and he would take at least ten minutes to get there.

Kami, Kami, please, please help her.

* * *

><p>Momoshiro watched with growing anxiety at the side of the court. It had already been about twenty or twenty five minutes since the match between Lina and Atobe had started.<p>

Lina was breathing heavily and coughing.

"Tired already, Miss Pro?" Atobe taunted as he served.

Momoshiro could tell that Lina was pushing herself to maintain the rally.

Ryoma, please arrive already.

"Momo-senpai!" Ryoma's voice rang out.

Thank Kami.

"Echizen!" Momoshiro said, turning as Ryoma entered the court.

"How long has she been playing?" Ryoma asked, the alarm in his voice surprised Momoshiro, and he didn't immediately answer, "HOW LONG?"

"T-twenty, maybe twenty five," the older boy stuttered his reply.

Without a word, he grabbed Momoshiro's racquet, ran into the middle of the court and hit the ball to the benches. He immediately ran to Lina, dropping the racquet.

She smiled, leaning on him.

"I just want to play tennis again, Ryoma" she sobbed as she fell to the ground.

Ryoma managed to hold on to her and carefully lay her on the ground, taking his jacket off and crumpling it as a pillow for her.

"Nee-san," he said, his voice cracking, "nee-san, just stay awake, okay?"

She made a sound, and suddenly, her body started to convulse into a coughing fit.

He didn't know what to do.

He saw her bag and ran to grab it, emptying its contents to the ground. He grabbed the three medicine containers and ran back, kneeling beside her. He shakily opened the containers and was about to give her some of the pills but then she stopped coughing and became still.

"Lina! Lina!" He called out to her, lightly tapping her cheek, dropping the containers, "stay awake, nee-san!"

She didn't respond. Oh, Kami, she was so still. He didn't even know if she was still breathing.

He looked to the side and saw his senpais.

"CALL AN AMBULANCE!" He screamed, not knowing what to do anymore.

The alarm and fear in Ryoma's voice startled the tennis team and they all scrambled along.

They all ran to him, and Inui, Oishi and Momoshiro knelt beside Lina.

"She's still breathing," Inui said putting his ear above her mouth, looking up at Oishi, who was already on the phone, "but it's really slow. She must've overexerted herself, and due to the leaking in her heart, the blood didn't go to her brain."

"What do we do?" Ryoma asked, his voice clearly showing his panic, he held her hand, which was becoming cold.

"Ryoma, calm down," Tezuka said as he lifted her head off the ground, "Momoshiro, carry her to the bottom of the stairs, the ambulance should be arriving in a while."

Momoshiro nodded and proceeded to carry her, locking his arms under her knees and at the back of her neck.

Ryoma never let go of her hand.

* * *

><p>He didn't know how long he was waiting outside the emergency room, but he did know that his parents were there. They arrived with Ryuzaki-sensei and more tennis club members.<p>

He looked to the side and saw the tennis club members leaning on the wall, sitting on the floor and some were even sleeping on it. Rinko and Nanjirou were sitting across him, his father's arm was wrapped around his mother. Ryuzaki sat next to them, looking grave.

The doctor came out of the double doors, and took of his surgical mask off.

Everyone stood, looking at him expectantly.

"She's out of danger," he said, and everyone visibly relaxed.

Ryoma kept looking at the doctor, there was something else.

"The rheumatic heart disease has worsened, but is still repairable," he continued, and everyone fell silent again, "she has pushed her heart to the limit, and the leak became worse."

"Is there anything we could do about it?" Rinko her face tear stained.

"Your daughter came in for a check up last Saturday," the doctor said looking at Rinko and Nanjirou, "she was eligible for the surgery, but she wasn't sure whether or not she wanted to undergo surgery."

Last Saturday. The finals of the Tokyo Tournament. That's why she had been so distracted.

"Can we see her?" Ryoma asked, hopeful.

The doctor looked grave and Ryoma knew that something was still wrong.

"Your sister's brain wasn't able to receive blood for some time, and, while there is no brain damage," the doctor said, looking at Ryoma with sympathy, "we can't be sure when she'll regain consciousness."

The words echoed in Ryoma's mind. _…we can't be sure when she'll regain consciousness._

_…we can't be sure when she'll regain consciousness._

His mind was still numb, feeling as if everything was happening to someone else.

"I still want to see her," Ryoma said, clenching his jaw.

The doctor nodded and led the Echizen family to the hospital room.

_Kami, she was so pale_.

She was connected to all sorts of machines that Ryoma didn't know of, there was a beeping sound in the background and there was a pumping sound, too.

He sat next to her bed and grabbed her limp hand, squeezing it.

_Wake up soon, nee-san._

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> So there you have it, folks! Lina has rheumatic heart disease, an after effect of rheumatic fever. So now that _that's _revealed, and all the boys I had in mind for her are in play. Who do you guys want her to end up with? Shall it be AtobeXLina, FujiXLina, TezukaXLina or MomoshiroXLina (because age is just a number people.)? Please do put in suggestions! Even if the character hasn't been introduced yet, I'll take it into mind =)


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** Hey guys! You know the drill. Thanks, to all those who reviewed, faved and alerted (?). I am quite pleased with you all =) This chapter's a bit short, but I think it'll be alright. Tell me what you think? =)

**easily1994addicted: **Thanks =) I like that idea of a pairing =) We'll see, though I think it might be fairly obvious by the start of this chapter =)

**Geny789: **Thank you for your review. That's actually what I had wanted at first, too. But then I realized that it the plot I had in mind seemed kind of dull without romance and drama. But it will still mostly be about family =)

**xbamsod**: I know, right? While I was researching about the rheumatic heart disease, I found that it was fairly right for the situation, so that's what I had put in. But Lina wasn't supposed to be sick in the first stages of my story, just injured. But, hey, adding plot twists, right? As for the suggestion for the pairing, I'll think about it, nothing is still sure at this point =)

**Ciel Blanche**: Thank you for the review! Your reviews really make my day =) Anyways, I think I also like that pairing, too. They just clash so much that it'd be so much fun to put them together, especially with Ryoma going against Atobe and all that.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Ever since Echizen Lina collapsed during their match on Friday, she had been plaguing Atobe Keigo's everyday thoughts for a week.<p>

Saturday found Atobe justifying himself. It wasn't _his_ fault that _she_ had accepted the challenge. _He_ didn't know of _her_ condition. It was _her_ responsibility to keep herself healthy and out of danger.

Sunday found his sleeping routine slightly off due to reasoning with himself until very late at night. _He_ wasn't at fault. _She_ was the one who accepted the challenge. It wasn't on _his_ conscience that _she_ could be dead right now – all because of _her_ own doing, of course. It wasn't _his_ problem.

Through Monday to Wednesday, he had become very distracted, doing things absentmindedly. Was the girl still alive? Or was she dying? Or was she fighting for her life, barely holding on?

His absentminded manner called the attention of most of the Hyoutei Gakuen tennis team, but none really had the guts to ask him about it. Well, none but Oshitari.

"You seem distracted, Atobe. Is there anything wrong?" he said as they watched the tennis team practice.

"No," Atobe replied, "just thinking."

But, of course, Atobe knew that something was very wrong. He had no longer enjoyed the loud cheering people did for Hyoutei. And _that_ was very _very_ wrong.

"Is this about Echizen Lina's collapse?" Oshitari said, having known Atobe for a long time, he knew he had guessed right when his captain didn't answer.

By Thursday, Atobe was having nightmares about the young tennis pro player. He saw her face everywhere. His maids, the chauffers, the trees, the clouds, the foam on his coffee, the light scar on the back of his palm. _Everywhere_.

Which is why, by Friday, he found himself in a hospital room, with a near dead girl laying on the bed in front of him.

The first thing he noticed was that she was so still and pale. The only indication that she was alive was the beeping of the heart monitor and the pumping of the breathing machine.

The nurse that had led him in was fixing the sheets on the bed – not that there was anything to fix, really.

"Does anyone come to visit her?" Atobe asked, awkwardly standing by the window.

"Her parents are usually here in the afternoon, though her father comes in at random times," the nurse cringed, but Atobe didn't bother to ask, "her brother, however, goes here everyday, after school and stays until we make him leave, he even sometimes takes a couple of his friends with him," the nurse smiled kindly.

Atobe said nothing as the nurse left. He looked out the window, the sun had just risen, and the roads were still fairly traffic-free.

Now that he was here, he actually didn't know what to do. He had planned to tell her that it was all her fault that she was in the hospital and that none of it was on his conscience. But now that he was actually here, he found that talking to a comatose patient was absurd.

He decided to simply sit beside her bed, studying her – and no, he was not a pervert for doing this.

Her hair was neatly placed over her shoulders, stopping just above her chest, proof of her stillness. Her eyes were moving under her lids, and he wondered what she was dreaming about. He remembered her eyes quite clearly. Her lips weren't as red as he remembered them to be, and, as far as he could tell from her face and arms, her whole body was pale.

Soon, the silence became too much and he dozed off.

When he woke up, however, he could hear a coughing/choking sound, and a hoarse whisper he couldn't make out. He opened his eyes.

Echizen Lina was awake.

And was glaring at him.

Atobe stood to get the nurse, but she had grabbed his wrist feebly. He turned and noticed that her mouth was moving, but he couldn't make out the words she was saying, for her voice was soft. He placed his ear over her mouth, listening.

"Water," she said with difficulty, because her throat was dry, before he was able to get the water, however, she added, "douche bag."

The corner of his mouth twitched. Kami, this girl was really getting on his nerves.

But he helped her anyway, pressing the remote control of the bed to help her sit up. He grabbed the cup filled with water at the side table and helped her drink it.

After a sigh of satisfaction, she glared at him again.

"Kami, you sleep like a log," she said, "I've been calling out for water since a while ago, douche."

He stared at her in shock. This girl still had the guts to talk to him that way even after what had happened, and _she was_ _on a freakin' hospital bed._

"What are you doing here anyway?" She asked once she realized who it was exactly, she frowned at him, "I wake and the firs face I see is yours."

That snapped him out of his shock.

"I'm here to tell you that all this," he motioned to her and the medical equipment around her, "is not _my_ fault. This is all _your_ fault."

"I know," she said, "and I don't need you to rub it in my face."

"So, none of this is in my conscience," Atobe said.

"Of course, asshole," she said as she tried to move her arms out of atrophy, then she stilled, looking at him with a dead serious expression on her face, "how long have I been unconscious?"

"A week," he replied.

There were a few moments of silence.

"Wow," she sighed, "that long?"

The look on Atobe's face confirmed.

Silence fell again, with Atobe looking at Lina, and Lina looking everywhere else but at Atobe. Finally, she looked to her side, and upon seeing the call button, she reached for it.

She looked pained and so Atobe did it for her.

She glared at him.

"I'm not a paralytic," she said through clenched teeth.

Atobe looked at her, slightly amused, "I am amused by your sense of independence, Echizen Lina, but there is a difference between stubbornness and strength," he said as he took his seat.

She continued to glare at him.

* * *

><p>"How is he?" Coach Ryuzaki asked the regulars as they watched Ryoma practice.<p>

"He hasn't really spoken to anybody about what's happened," Tezuka replied.

"It's just like him," Oishi interjected worriedly, "he acts as if nothing happened."

"Just leave him be," Kaidou suggested, looking like his angry usual self.

"Kaidou's right," Kawamura said, "Echizen has his own way of dealing with these kinds of things."

For the whole week Ryoma had been the same as he had ever been. Of course, they all knew he visited her everyday, they even went with him once or twice on different times. It was just really awkward around Ryoma that past week, with him going on as if he didn't have a recently comatose sister in the hospital.

Momoshiro had tried his best to cheer the youngest regular up, but he didn't really seem to be in need of cheering up, since he acted like his normal, arrogant self. The tennis team members went out of his way, trying as much as possible not to get in his way.

Ryoma went through his training program with ungodly dedication, especially after they had found out that it was Hyoutei Gakuen that they were going to be facing during the first round of the Kantou Tournament.

"Is there anything to do for that kid?" Momoshiro asked after once again failing to invite Ryoma to a burger joint.

Coach Ryuzaki walked away, answering a phone call.

"It doesn't look like he wants us to do anything for him," Fuji said, cleaning his sweat with a towel.

Everyone looked at Ryuzaki as she laughed, saying, "I'll go get him right now."

She walked inside the court, towards Ryoma, who was approaching the other regulars, handing him the phone.

A smile lit the first year regular's face, and the other regulars leaned in to hear the conversation.

The only thing they heard, however, was Ryoma, saying while pulling his cap down, "… it's about time you woke up, nee-san."

* * *

><p>Lina could only frown at the people crammed into her hospital room, eating <em>her<em> food and drinks.

"Is everyone in this room determined to starve me to death?" She said as Momoshiro took out the box of Poptarts from the fridge.

She glared at Fuji and Oishi, who were both casually sipping her favourite milk drink, Cowhead. She looked to Ryoma and Eiji, who were having a contest at who could eat the most sushi, _her _sushi, from the big box that Rei had sent over. Kawamura and Kaidou were leaning on the wall, eating _her_ chips. Kami, she was saving those for the long days until her discharge.

The only ones who _weren't_ filling their bellies with her food were Tezuka and Ryuzaki-sensei.

"Don't worry, Lina-san," Ryuzaki-sensei laughed beside her, "they're just happy to see you well."

"It's hard to see the happiness past the whole you're-eating-my-food part," she said as she threw her pillow at Fuji, who was trying to get more Cowhead from her fridge, "open that fridge one more time, Fuji-san, and I will throw my IV at you," she said, wrapping her hand around her IV.

Everyone stopped eating.

"Yeah, that's right, people," Lina said, her voice echoing in the room, "my food."

There was silence as Lina placed her hand back on her lap.

Looking at Tezuka, she said, "how's the tennis team doing? I mean my non-regulars."

"They've become lax without you," Tezuka said, getting straight to the point.

"I'm going to kill them," Lina frowned, "one week I'm gone, and they've done nothing."

"But Arai, Nagayama, Fushimi and Yoshimura are doing well, they trained harder since your absence," the captain continued his assessment.

"As I expected," Lina nodded and the corner of everyone's lips twitched.

After a few more minutes of conversation, Lina sighed.

"Is there anything wrong, Lina-san?" Ryuzaki-sensei said, worried, "should I call the doctor?"

Everyone looked at the younger girl, silent.

She looked at each of them. These people knew a lot about her as it is. They were practically family to her and her brother. And she found herself wanting them to know.

"I've decided that I want to go through the heart surgery."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Please tell me what you think! I am dying on the inside to hear what you guys think. Trust me. I am. Please...?

REVIEW!


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:**Alright! Here it is people! Thank you, once again, for all the faves, reviews and story alerts. It makes me so proud =) not to mention motivated. =)

**easily1994addicted:**Same here =) Well, you'll see more in this chapter =)

**Geny789:**Hey there! Thank you. I try to update as fast as possible, because I think - probably, mistakenly - that there are people who are waiting, and I'm the type of person who doesn't like to keep people waiting =)

**xbamsod:** Thanks for the review. I think all surgeries have risks in them, and since it's the heart, Lina's surgery will be very risky, and it'll take a while to recover. But I hope that my mind doesn't come up with anything crazy, really. But, maybe, that's what this story needs, right?

**Ciel Blanche: **Thank you! You know, now that I really imagine it, I can't wait to write the next chapters either! I'm very excited, too, to let you read it =) I found Ryoma and Atobe absolutely adorable, too =)

**Xana Vlec:** Thank you for the review! I actually think that I'll have a hard time writing that scene, so any tips? I'd love to hear them =)

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Atobe Keigo was never really the type to visit sick people. Never had he gone to the hospital to visit, even for a friend – actually, none of them ever got hospitalized, so he never really got the need to visit. But that was beside the point.<p>

The point was, he didn't do these kinds of things.

So, walking down the hospital hall, carrying a bouquet of flowers, was very _very _awkward and uncharacteristic of him. Not to mention that he was visiting a girl who most likely hated him, but that wasn't possible, right?

It was an impulsive move on his part, the car was driving by the hospital – which was, coincidentally, Oshitari's family's hospital – and he had the sudden urge to go visit the girl who collapsed during their one game match. He didn't know why he had the bouquet either, but wasn't that what one brought for sick people?

As he turned the door knob to Echizen Lina's hospital room, he heard cluttering inside and groaning, and he entered quickly. Upon seeing her on the floor, clutching her IV stand for support, he placed the bouquet on the floor – because, duh, she wasn't exactly dying, why waste a good bouquet by throwing it on the ground? – and tried to help her up.

"Don't!" She said as she slapped his hand away, and she struggled to stand up.

"What are you doing?" He asked when she seemed steady on her feet.

"Isn't it obvious?" She looked at him, as if he was an idiot – which he didn't like being labeled as – and said, "walking."

"You just woke up yesterday, after a week of unconsciousness," he said, taking a seat across the bed, after picking up the bouquet, "you should be resting, or something like that."

"Yeah," she looked at him, sarcastic dripping off her sentence, "and I'll get all better by sitting around the whole day."

He did nothing as he watched her struggle to get her legs out of atrophy. He did nothing whenever she fell, simply watching as she struggled to get up again and again. She was able to walk normally about half an hour later.

"Alright," she sighed as she bent her leg, "what are you doing here?"

He said nothing, because he actually didn't know why he was here, or why he was sticking around, really.

"I was going to visit a friend," he lied, though he really didn't know why, "so I decided to be nice and visit the girl who had no one to visit her."

She glared at him, "you are such a douche."

He shrugged, a smirk gracing his features, "I'm just a very nice person."

She scoffed at him and walked around the small room, barefoot. Atobe did nothing but watch her.

After several moments of seeing him stare at her from her peripherals, she glared at him, "stop that!"

He smirked, "stop what?"

"You know what," she looked away, feeling lightly embarrassed to even say something so arrogant.

"Apparently," he smirked, continuing to watch her, "I don't."

She pursed her lips and continued to walk around the room in silence, the creaking of the IV stand as she wheeled it along was the only sound being made.

She stopped again, still feeling slightly disturbed by his presence, "okay, that's it," turning to him, "what are you _still_ doing here?"

"Why? I didn't know that visiting poor, helpless, sick people was such a big sin," he shrugged.

She glared at him for what felt like the thousandth time ever since she met him.

He shrugged as only a person as arrogant as he was could, "I'm watching over you so you don't kill yourself before it's time."

"Time for what?" Realization crossed her face, "oh, shit."

He looked at her, wondering what exactly she had realized.

"Is this about me losing the match?" She said looking at him with wide eyes.

Well, he hadn't really thought about that. But if _she_ thought that she lost, then it was fine with him.

"Bingo," he smirked, as if he knew all along.

She stopped her walking and stayed absolutely still, staring at him in shock. After a few moments, she threw her head back and groaned, and he simply smirked at her.

After a sigh, she said, "fine, what do you want?"

Before he could answer – he didn't actually have one yet – there was a creak and both looked to the door.

Ryoma entered.

The first thing he did, after looking at Atobe in shock of his presence in the room, was to glare at him.

Atobe stifled a laugh, amused at how similar the siblings were, right down to the glare, it was even more amusing because, coincidentally, this short boy was going to be one of his opponents in the first round of the Kantou Tournament. The younger Echizen said nothing as he closed the door, not looking away from the captain of Hyoutei Gakuen's tennis team.

"Kami, you suck!" Lina groaned, and Atobe looked up, thinking that she was addressing him, but she was actually looking at Ryoma, "I asked for Poptarts, not cereals," that was when he noticed the youngest in the room was carrying a box of cereals.

"They didn't have any in the supermarket," Ryoma replied, tearing his gaze away from Atobe, placing the box in the fridge beside him.

"No, you just don't love me enough to go look for them," Lina pouted, disappointed at not getting her favourite snack.

"Hey, at least I brought you something," her little brother shrugged.

"Well, if Momoshiro-kun hadn't finished my Poptarts in the first place, I wouldn't be in need to get more, would I?" She asked, her arms folded over her chest.

Atobe smirked and stood up, "well, I really must be going, lots of sick people to visit."

He took three flowers from the bouquet, a rose, a lily and a carnation, and placed it on top of the small fridge.

Lina could only stick her tongue out at him as he left, afterwards heading for her bed.

Ryoma was looking at her, the way he looked at her when she did something wrong and that he wanted to know, but didn't want to ask.

"We're not talking about it," she said, and looked at him, "not your business, punk."

Ryoma simply leaned against the wall, next to the window, refusing to sit on the chair that Atobe had sat in – for it was the only one in the room – and glared at it every now and then, as if the captain of the Hyoutei Gakuen tennis team was still there.

"So, when's the surgery?" He asked, casually sitting on the space on her bed.

"A month from now," she said, "I just hope that I get through it."

They became silent.

Lina knew became thoughtful. The surgery was going to be risky, especially if her heart wasn't strong enough.

She threw her head back and groaned, making Ryoma look at her, "I want to be discharged already."

"I thought it was fun resting all day," he smirked at her.

"It. Is. Not." She said, glaring at him, "if I don't get discharged soon, I will seriously run away."

He stared at her, amused.

"When the Kantou Tournament?" Lina asked excitedly.

"In about a month or so," Ryoma answered, "probably after your surgery."

"That's cool," she smiled, "I hope I'll be there to watch, do you already know who you're going up against?"

Ryoma smiled with something akin to excitement in his eyes, "Hyoutei Gakuen."

* * *

><p>Oshitari watched as Atobe stood to leave, right after practice.<p>

Something was extremely suspicious about the captain's behavior, and he was definitely going to find out. Atobe had been leaving every after practice, which was quite unusual, for he was usually the last to leave.

Kabaji was obviously worried about him, and it didn't go unnoticed by the regulars that he was often quiet, smirking by himself.

"Oshitari," Mukahi said, inclining his head towards the retreating figure of Atobe, "are you following him? You look like you are."

"Definitely," Oshitari replied, "his distracted manner has caused the team to be distracted as well."

The other regulars appeared behind Oshitari.

"Where does he go?" Ohtori asked, yawning.

"We'll find out," Hiyoshi said, feeling as if this could help him overthrow the captain.

Oshitari nodded, and all of them managed to follow the captain to the Tokyo Medical Center – after a few wrong turns, and very awkward stealth moves.

Atobe walked down the hospital hall, carrying a bouquet of flowers, unaware of the unwanted stalkers. He turned and opened the door to Lina's room, closing it behind him. He found her resting back, in deep thought.

"You're here again," she said, tearing her attention away from the window to look at him, a hint of a very _very_ small smile on her face.

"Yeah, I have a sick friend to visit, remember?" Atobe said as he placed three flowers on top of her fridge, "just thought I'd be kind again."

He'd been doing that a lot, buying a whole bouquet and only leaving her three of the flowers in it.

"You're an awfully kind person to visit a girl you barely know for seven consecutive days," she glared.

"Aren't I fantastic?" He smirked as he took a seat across her bed.

"So, what do you want today?" She asked, which had somehow become the routine they had on these visits.

"Let's talk about you today," he said, "I'm giving you a chance to impress me."

"Who'd want to impress _you_?" She scoffed at him.

"Everyone," Atobe shrugged, as if it was the most common thing in the world.

She rolled her eyes and sat folding her legs. Her hair was still loose, and she was wearing her blue pajamas with elephants printed on them.

"I started learning tennis when I was four and found that I really liked it," she said, smiling at the memory.

She didn't know why she was telling him such things about her, and she didn't really want to know either.

"Ryoma was always the genius one, and I couldn't believe that my little brother could be so good at something that I was more passionate about, and I trained and trained to become stronger and stronger," she condensed the story, though it was way longer than that, "but he is obviously built for tennis, at least, more than I am."

Atobe waited for her to continue.

"After winning the US Open," she said stretching, "I got scarlet fever, which later on developed to rheumatic fever-"

The door burst open, cutting her off, and seven people came to view.

Lina recognized them as the regulars of the Hyoutei Gakuen tennis team.

"Why are you all here?" Atobe asked, slightly surprised.

"The question is, Captain Atobe," Oshitari, the one with glasses and blue hair, said while adjusting his glasses, "what are _you_ doing here?"

"What I do in my free time is none of your business," Atobe said.

The seven regulars all entered the room, closing the door behind them.

"It is if it affects your play, captain," Shishido replied.

There was silence in the room and Lina was confused.

A few moments later, to add to the confusion, the door creaked open once again, and the Seishun Gakuen tennis team regulars came into her view – only some of them could actually enter because the room was pretty crowded as it was.

Oh, Kami, this was very awkward.

"What is Hyotei doing here?" Momoshiro said.

Ryoma glared up at all of them.

Mukahi ignored them, "I don't understand why you visit her anyway, captain."

Atobe glared at him and Mukahi gulped, "my business, Mukahi, not yours."

"Atobe," Tezuka nodded at the other captain.

"Tezuka," Atobe said, repeating the gesture, "it's good to see that your team seems well."

"They still don't seem like much," Oshitari said, standing beside Atobe.

Kaidou glared at him, "I'd like to hear you say that when we beat you in the first round."

"Like you could even get two matches from us," Mukahi said.

The arguing and taunting continued, and Lina could only look back and forth from one team to the other. Soon, they were even shouting, and she was getting very nervous. Tezuka tried to calm the Seigaku regulars down, but when someone from the other team said something, they just argued back.

When Kaidou looked like he was going to hit someone, Lina decided to do something.

"Kami!" She shouted, "shut up! All of you!"

They all looked at the patient as she got off her bed and placed her slippers on.

"If you want to go kill each other, go right ahead!" She said throwing her hands up as she moved past the bickering people, "but I definitely do not want to be here to see that."

Before she was out of the room, she turned back. Looking particularly at Momoshiro.

"And don't even think of opening the fridge, people."

* * *

><p>Lina walked around the gardens, irritated.<p>

Those people better be out by the time she got back.

"Echizen-san!" A nurse said, approaching her, carrying a small clipboard.

"Yes?" She asked, her face automatically smiling.

"You've been cleared for discharge," the nurse smiled at her.

"Hallelujah!" She shouted, jumping for joy.

She grinned, her eyes glinting in excitement - and mischief.

She missed her trainees.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> I know there's not much action here, but hey, more in the next chapter! There's only so much I could do when Lina's in the hospital. So what do you guys think? =)


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note:** Hey guys! Alright, so, thank you once again to you people for reading this story and for paying attention for this long! Thank you!

**Xana Vlec: **Thank you for those details! I now can't wait to start writing that chapter =)

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>"I'm gone for two weeks, and you start slacking off?" Echizen Lina shouted as she watched the non-regulars – which, unfortunately, included Momoshiro – do laps around the courts.<p>

She glared at the ones in the back, who had stopped to catch their breaths, hands on their knees. Their chests heaving, and faces red, trying to get as much air into their lungs as possible.

"Keep running!" She yelled menacingly, glaring severely at them, her mouth set in a frown.

They gulped and started running once again.

At the regulars' court, the occupants watched as the tired non-regulars continued to do laps around the court. Momoshiro was in front of the group, and he was starting to lose stamina already.

"Lina-chan's really mean," Eiji said, sympathizing with the other members of the tennis team.

The other regulars nodded in agreement.

"Sixty five laps around the courts is really a lot," Kawamura said as he watched group turn to start another lap.

"Too much!" Eiji said, cringing at the thought of him doing it.

"Only 9.45 percent of them will most likely finish the whole drill," Inui said.

"Hey! Get back to practice!" Ryuzaki shouted from the side of the court.

The Kantou Tournament was two weeks away, and the Seishun Gakuen Tennis club regulars were working their hardest, trying to perfect their individual techniques and increase their own skills, trying to improve in the category they were lacking in. Currently, they were doing several exercises, under the guidance of Inui, of course. On the other hand, Lina was making the non-regulars do more strenuous exercises than ever before, as punishment for their lax behavior during her absence.

It was morning practice, and Lina had just comeback from her stay in the hospital, only to find that her trainees were very much relaxing – as much as one can relax with Tezuka as captain – except for a few select others. But she had a one for all and all for one policy. Everyone had to run.

There was a chiming, signaling the end of morning practice.

Lina frowned, her trainees had only done forty laps.

"Everyone stop!" She shouted.

They immediately stopped and some sat on the ground, a few lay on the ground, and others leaned on the boundary of the courts.

"Get changed and get to class," she instructed, once she saw sighs of relief and some smiles here and there, she smirked, "we'll start over during afternoon practice."

She turned away from the groaning trainees and fetched her bag to head to class. As she reached for it, however, it was snatched away by another, out of her reach.

She looked up to see Momoshiro, panting and holding her bag.

"What are you doing, Momoshiro-kun?" Lina said, raising an eyebrow, "you're getting your sweat all over my bag."

He smiled cheerfully at her, despite being out of breath, "I'm carrying you're bag for you."

"…and why are you doing that?" She asked, her brows furrowing.

"You just got out of the hospital, senpai," Momoshiro shrugged, "I can't let you carry anything right now."

She glared at him and he ignored it, being used to Ryoma's own.

"I'm not dying, Momoshiro-kun," she said, "I was discharged because I was fine, and that means that I can carry my own bag."

She snatched her bag back from him and walked quickly away.

"Don't worry, Momo-senpai, she's just really like that," Ryoma said, walking past him, "she likes to carry her own weight."

* * *

><p>Afternoon practice found Lina in her sports suit, but she wasn't going to just stand around, dictating everybody.<p>

She was going to jog and do some exercises.

"Echizen," Fuji said, calling Ryoma's attention as the younger boy was tying his shoes.

The older boy looked to the side, where they saw Lina jogging along the side of the courts.

"Is it alright for her to do this?" He asked, worry in his voice.

Ryoma clenched his jaw, he didn't actually know why she was doing this, or if it was alright for her to do something like that. Everyone in the court watched as she jogged, for everyone knew of her condition. Some were uneasy, while others tried to stop her.

"Coach, I don't think you should be doing this," Arai said as he jogged alongside her, they were joined by Momoshiro, Eiji, Oishi and Ryoma.

"You're in no condition to be running right now, senpai, the state of your heart might worsen," Momoshiro said.

"I'll only be jogging for fifteen minutes," Lina replied, _and then rest and jog again._

"But that might be too much for you, Lina-san," Oishi said, clearly worried.

"Yeah, Lina-chan, you should stop," Eiji said, as he came up beside her.

She stopped, and they all stopped, a little bit in front of her.

"I know you're all worried," Lina said, her expression was serious, "but I have to get my heart in good condition," she paused, hesitating before she continued, "I moved the surgery to next week."

She moved past them and started running again.

No one ran after her except for Ryoma.

"No way am I waiting another month to pass by for me to play tennis again, Ryoma," she said determinedly as he came up beside her.

"I don't expect you to," Ryoma said, smirking, "I'm just running beside you to make sure you stick to fifteen minutes."

She smiled at him.

* * *

><p>There was a luxury car parked directly outside the gate of the school, and someone was leaning on it, hands in their pocket.<p>

"Is there some creepy reason as to why you're here?" Lina called out as she recognized who was leaning against it, she immediately recognized him because of the uniform.

Atobe simply smirked, "forgetting already?"

She stopped in her tracks, threw her head back and groaned, "you've got to be kidding me!"

"Fortunately, I'm not," he said, motioning to the car, "get in."

She looked at him suspiciously, squinting.

"Where are you planning to take me?" She inquired, caution and alarm present in her voice.

"Just trust me-"

"Which I don't."

"-and I promise not to do anything unseemly."

She sighed, debating against herself. Kami, she wished she had just swallowed her pride and refused the damn challenged. It would've made her life less complicated than it was at the moment.

But, as of the moment, she had to keep her word, and he'd keep his.

"Fine," she said through gritted teeth, "but if you do anything _unseemly_, this whole thing is off."

"Of course," Atobe said, opening the door for her to slide in. He got in after she did.

Atobe said nothing as the car started to move, and the chauffer seemed to know where exactly to go.

"Now, tell me, where are we going?" She said, turning to him, sitting as far as she could. Obviously, this was all premeditated.

He said nothing, simply deeming it an unworthy question.

She sighed and clenched her jaw. He was obviously not going to tell her until it was too late to back out.

Atobe Keigo was such a douche.

* * *

><p>He wasn't just any douche, however, he was a <em>rich<em> douche.

Lina stared up at the amusement park.

_His_ amusement park.

"I know, it's very impressive, isn't it?" He said beside her, and by the look he gave her, she knew that he was purposely trying to annoy her.

"You do know that I can't go on most of the rides here, right?" She uttered as she stared at him.

"Of course, I just thought that you'd want to see the very luxurious restaurant in the ferris wheel," he said as he bypassed the lines and headed straight for the ticket booth, "after all, it is quite a famous structure."

There were people who shouted at him to get to the back of the line, but he simply ignored them, deciding not to stoop to their level.

He looked back to see that Lina wasn't behind him.

"What are you doing there?" Atobe said upon finding her at the back of the line.

"Waiting with everyone else," she shrugged motioning her hand for him to leave, "you go ahead and I'll stay at the back of the line, thank you very much."

"But if you stay at the back of the line, I'll have to wait with you," Atobe argued.

"Then stay then," she replied, "simple as that."

"I'm not waiting at the back of the line to go to _my_ amusement park."

"Looks like we're going home then."

"No!" He said as she was about to walk away.

"Are you going to go ahead, or are you waiting at the back of the line?"

He said nothing as he shifted his position to stand where she had stood. She smiled a small, nearly unnoticeable smile as she got in line behind him.

"This is embarrassing," he complained, folding his arms in front of him, "waiting at the back of the line to go to my own amusement park."

"Stop complaining," she said, fidgeting behind him, "my ears are going to fall off listening to you."

He turned to her.

"Don't you dare tell anyone of this," he glared.

"Like I'd talk to anyone about you," she retorted.

"I'm sure you do. It's me."

She scoffed at him, "Kami, I never knew anyone could be more arrogant than Ryoma, and more narcissistic than Narcissus himself."

"I've never known anyone as vocal as you are," he commented.

She shrugged, slightly embarrassed.

When they had reached the front of the line, the staff all bowed to Atobe – permanently erasing her doubts that this amusement park really belonged to him (and his family) – and let them in without question.

Atobe immediately led her to the ferriswheel. It was very tall and had oval shaped passenger cars, which were tinted, rotating slowly.

"Atobe-sama," a worker there said, bowing to him, "everything has been prepared."

"Good," he answered.

He turned to Lina, who was trying not to show her amazement at the structure.

"Welcome, Echizen Lina, to the Grande Roue Restaurant."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Sorry for the lack of action in this chapter ='( It is quite tragic, but I really wanted to write about this, but fear not! The Kantou Tournament will be starting within the next two chapters =) Please, please review! =)) Any suggestions as to where Atobe decides to kidnap Lina to? =) I'd love to hear them!


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note:** Hey guys! So once again, thank you for the faves, alerts and reviews. They make my day, and for some reason, I keep checking for reviews, but that doesn't matter, does it?

**easily1994addicted:** But a moonlit picnic is adorable! Not to mention romantic, no matter how corny it is.

**Xana Vlec:** Thank you. Don't feel bad, I just have a thing for updating really fast. AND I love laser tag! Isn't it awesome?

**Ciel Blanche: **I think there's drama here, but I can't really tell the difference between drama and romance, so yeah. Momoshiro is so adorable =)

**Geny789:** Thank you! That makes me so happy =) Well, now you'll find out, but I highly doubt there's so much romance here, because I honestly think that I suck at writing romance, but I do try very hard.

**nana: **Hey! Thank you! I'm glad that you like them =) I think they go together personality wise. Anyways, there's more in this chapter =)

I'm introducing a new OC here, guys =) And I would love to know what you think of her =)

* * *

><p>"So, how exactly are we doing this whole thing?" Lina said as she got into one of the passenger cars of the ferris wheel.<p>

It was spacious inside, wherein Atobe could stand his full height and still have some space over his head. It was brightly lit inside, but Lina was still able to see the outside. There was a table in the middle of the passenger car, and it was already set with dining utensils and food.

"Do what?" Atobe asked as he motioned for her to sit at the table, across from where he was sitting.

Lina could feel and see that the ferris wheel was turning.

"I can't just do what you say forever," she said as they started to eat the beautifully set food, "we have to set a limit. I say, I do ten things for you, and this counts as one," she chewed her food, and swallowed, "so you have nine left."

He shook his head, "too little. Twenty."

"What?" She said, looking at him in disbelief, "I'm not doing twenty things for you. Hell no."

"You lost the match," Atobe shrugged.

She glared at him, and then smirked, "meet me halfway, here, Atobe."

He nodded slowly.

Her next words were said in a rush, "twenty divided by two is ten-"

"Deal," Atobe said, a little too quickly. Realization crossed his face, "wait, what?"

"Pleasure doing business with you," she smirked, looking outside.

Atobe glared at her.

After a while, she stood up and went to look out the window.

"I used to love riding roller coasters," she said, a smile gracing her features, "they were so thrilling."

She turned to him.

"Does the roller coaster here go very fast?" She inquired excitedly, biting her lower lip.

"I wouldn't know," Atobe shrugged, looking at her, "I've never really tried it."

"You're joking," Lina said, "this is your amusement park and you've never ridden the roller coaster?"

"Yeah."

"You and I should go there, once I get better," she smiled, absentmindedly, when she had realized what she had just said, she turned to him and added, "separately, of course."

"Of course," Atobe nodded.

She went back to her seat and started to eat once again.

"The food is great," she said, nodding her head.

"Of course," he replied, pride in his voice, "we only employ the best here."

She rolled her eyes and continued to eat.

Atobe ate, all the while studying her.

She was… complicated to say the least. There was an air about her that just intrigued him, and he didn't know what it was exactly that drew him to her. He intended to find out.

"So," Lina said, intending very much to simply enjoy the dinner, "when did you start playing tennis?"

"When I was still a kid, five, I think," Atobe said, "I played mostly in Europe though. Of course, I won a lot of tournaments."

She rolled her eyes, once again, "of course."

They continued to talk, and to Lina's surprise, she actually had a good time – not that she would ever admit that to the arrogant, rich douche. While, yes, there were still a few moments when they were silent, these became shorter and shorter. Food had come in every time they were at the bottom of the ferris wheel, and Lina had to admit, it was really first class.

It started to become late, and Lina decided that it was time to leave.

"I'll take you there," Atobe said when she had stood.

"And let you know where my house is?" She retorted, mocked horrified, "no, thank you."

"We'll drop you off, somewhere near," he replied, "there are some real creeps out there."

"And you're not one of them?" She joked, and when he looked at her, not budging, she said, "fine."

Before dropping her off, Atobe handed Lina a box slightly bigger than his fist.

She raised her eyebrow at him, "and what is this supposed to be? I don't accept gifts from relative strangers."

Atobe smirked, it definitely was something she'd do, "it's a phone."

She opened the box and, as was said, found a phone inside. It was a popular phone at the moment, a flip-touch phone, and was obviously brand new.

"And why is there an expensive phone in this box?" She said, not taking it out of the box.

"If I am in need of you to do something, I'll call," he said, as if the answer was fairly obvious. He did, however, conveniently leave out the fact that the phone had a GPS on it.

"And you can't just go to my school?" She said, "like what you did today?"

"No," he scoffed at her, and mumbled something about 'commoner's school' and Lina was happy she didn't hear the exact words, or she would've been in danger of punching him in the gut.

She rolled her eyes and said, "fine, but I will give this back when the deal's over."

Atobe said nothing as she placed the phone in her bag and got out of the car.

* * *

><p>Lina watched her trainees practice, correcting them when needed. But other than that, she watched from afar, sitting on the bench under a tree. She had in her hand a clipboard, where she was already planning her own training program once she was healed.<p>

Once again, she trembled at the thought of getting the surgery. She was so afraid. What if it didn't work? Getting the surgery never meant that she would be able to play tennis again.

Kami help her.

Ryoma sat down next to her, "you seem distracted today, nee-san."

She looked at him, her eyes near tears, "I'm so scared, Ryoma."

He waited for her to elaborating, resting his racquet on the edge of the bench they were sitting on.

"What if the surgery doesn't work?" She said, "I mean, there was never really a guarantee that I'd be able to play tennis again, even after going under the knife. What if it turns out that my heart can't be repaired anymore? What if I don-"

She was cut off her rambling by Ryoma, who poked her cheek.

"You think too much, nee-san," he said, "you have a hyperactive imagination."

"But, what if-"

She was cut off again by Ryoma, who simply said, pulling his cap down, "you'll be fine, nee-san. If you really want to play tennis, you have to make a way, right?"

Lina thought of his words for a few moments, and he was actually right. She'd never give tennis up anyway, might as well keep trying, right?

She smiled at him, ruffling his hair, "thanks, Ryoma." After she stood up to stretch, she cupped her hands on either side of her mouth and shouted, "pick up the pace, everyone!"

When she sat back down, Ryoma asked her, "has Arai-senpai learned the serve yet?"

She nodded, "still could use some improvement, but I'm surprised that he'd be able to perfect such a complicated serve like that in just a couple of weeks."

"And the others?" He asked, leaning back.

"They're doing very well, I'll be teaching some of them serves and help them perfect some of their techniques," she replied.

"You haven't been letting them play tennis on the courts," Ryoma commented.

"So they could see just how good they're getting," she replied, "if they had been playing the whole time, then they wouldn't really notice their improvement, if they've been following the program I've given them, they should be way better now than ever before. They've become well rounded, and when they notice those improvements, they'd be able to trust me even more."

He smirked, sometimes, his sister was smarter than she let on.

* * *

><p>Naomi Tyler entered the Seishun Academy grounds, looking around.<p>

She had walked around Tokyo, utterly lost.

Japanese was such a complicated language, she now wished that she had actually paid attention to the lessons she took back in the States.

"Ooooh! Tennis!" She said as the sounds of bouncing tennis balls caught her attention.

Naomi followed the sounds and watched as the boy's tennis team practiced.

There was a woman shouting at the players, and Naomi immediately recognized her. But if she was here, then…

"Ryoma!" She shouted at the boy who was doing simple drills with his racquet.

The two siblings, and some other people, looked to her.

Lina had no trouble recognizing the girl.

She was short, about Ryoma's height, with shoulder length, sandy brown hair, and fair skin, obviously not Asian. Her eyes, however, were yellow, the same color as Ryoma's and Lina's. She was wearing a white shirt with a cartoon character printed at the front, brown khaki pants, polka dotted socks and red sneakers. On her back was a small red backpack.

"Tyler?" Lina exclaimed, approaching the girl.

The girl smiled, and Lina ran out of the courts to hug the girl.

Ryoma, however, after getting over his initial shock, glared at the girl, and in English, said "why are you here?"

"Ryoma! Is that really how you'd talk to your cousin?" Lina shouted as she let the Naomi go.

The tennis team all stared at the girl, wide-eyed.

"Echizen! Your family members just keep popping up, don't they?" Momoshiro said, "next thing we know, you actually have a brother you're not telling us about."

Ryoma and Lina made eye contact, shrugging. Momoshiro had no idea how right he actually was.

"There's actually only a 15.34 percent chance that she's really their cousin," Inui said.

"Ochibi sure is quiet about his family," Eiji commented.

"She's not my cousin," Ryoma said, "we're absolutely not related."

Lina had to shout at the non-regulars to continue practice before they stopped staring.

She turned her attention back to Naomi and led the other girl to the bench where she usually sat.

"Why are you in Japan? When did you get here? How did you know where we were? Or are you actually lost?" Lina said so fast in English that Naomi didn't really understand the question.

She was silent for a moment, trying to go over what Lina had said slowly in her head.

"Ah!" Naomi said once she had deciphered it, "I was actually here in Japan to go to rehab… and, uh, look for people…"

"That's great," Lina said, knowingly, well, not really about the second statement.

Ryoma approached, carrying one racquet in each hand, he tossed the other to Naomi.

"Court F, later," he glared, walking back.

"Are you still going on about that, Ryoma?" Naomi called out, gripping the racquet.

"He'll always go on about that," Lina said, rolling her eyes. She still spoke in English because she had highly doubted that Naomi could understand an ounce of Japanese.

A few minutes later, wherein Lina spent the time talking with Naomi on the bench, the team was dismissed.

Lina saw Ryoma glaring at them from Court F, and said, "let's go before he hurts his eyes with all the glaring he's doing."

Naomi giggled and followed Lina into the court.

Ryoma was already waiting, bouncing the ball as he did so.

"What are you doing, Echizen?" Oishi asked.

"Playing tennis," Ryoma replied, continuing to bounce the ball.

"Against who?" Kawamura asked.

Ryoma didn't answer, but, instead, he looked over to Naomi.

"Alright, alright," she said, hands up, "I'll play."

She positioned herself on the opposite baseline and the match started.

"Who's that, Lina-san?" Inui asked as he stood next to Lina.

"That's Naomi," Lina replied, "a friend of ours from America."

Ryoma had served a Twist Serve.

"Ooohh, Twist Serve already? Must be serious," she smiled as she returned it.

"What's going on between these two?" Eiji asked, joining the Inui, Lina, Oishi, Momoshiro and Kawamura.

"A long standing, one-sided rivalry," Lina said.

"She picked Ryoma as her rival?" Oishi asked, he watched as Naomi was barely able to get the ball in, having hit it weakly, "a bit sad, don't you think?"

"No, you've got it all wrong, Oishi-san," Lina smirked, "Ryoma has a one-sided rivalry with Naomi."

They all looked at her in disbelief.

"Really?" Kawamura said, "are you sure it's Ryoma?"

"Oh, trust me," Lina said, her eyebrows shooting up, nodding "that girl is good."

Upon seeing her shot hit the net, bouncing off weakly, Momoshiro looked at Lina, confused, "are you sure?"

Lina just smiled, "she got injured, so her wrist's pretty weak. But when she gets better, you guys should really watch her matches."

"Why does Echizen have such long standing rivalry with her?" Oishi asked, as they watched Naomi play.

Lina laughed, and they looked at her.

"Sorry, I just keep remembering it," she uttered.

They looked at her expectantly, waiting for an explanation.

"When Ryoma was six, Naomi beat him in a mixed singles competition, she was seven then," Lina said, smiling at the memory.

"But they were children," Inui said.

"Yeah, but Ryoma just couldn't take being beaten after people said that he was so good," she shrugged, "ever since then, he's been challenging her, but the match never gets finished."

Ryoma was switching hands in the middle of the match, and Naomi became curious.

"Both hands? Let me try!"

Since she had said this in English, the remaining regulars – except for Inui – there waited expectantly as she switched hands.

"Eh, she can do that, too?" Kawamura exclaimed.

The corner of their mouths twitched as she hit the serve, and it went outside, out of control.

"You're not playing seriously!" Ryoma shouted as the ball went outside again.

"But I'm tired, Ryoma! Jetlag!" She said as she yawned with her free hand.

He glared at his rival as his sister said, "come on, Ryoma," and looking to the others as well, "let's all get changed."

When they were all changed, they went outside, expecting to find Naomi. But she was gone.

* * *

><p>The week ended uneventfully, though Lina and Ryoma expected Naomi to show up, but she didn't.<p>

Lina lay in bed, wide awake. Thinking about several things as one was usually to do right before going to sleep.

She thought about her surgery on Sunday, and decided to just let the topic rest already. She turned her thoughts to Atobe, he hadn't bugged her yet, and she was starting to get paranoid about it already.

There was a buzzing noise coming from her bag and it took her a while to realize that it was the phone that he gave her. She scrambled out of bed to get it.

"What do you want?" She said, answering the phone.

"Tomorrow, eight a.m., where I dropped you off, don't be late" the voice on the other side said condescendingly.

Before she was able to say anything, the line went dead.

"That asshole! I swear… urgh," she said as she placed the phone back into her bag and went back to her bed.

The next morning, she woke up and cursed when she looked at the clock.

8:05 a.m.

She quickly prepared, simply wearing her sports suit, because she wanted to be prepared to run if she had to. She tied her hair into a ponytail and grabbed the phone she had dubbed the Atobe Line, which was ringing incessantly, but she decided to ignore it.

When she got to the meeting place, he was standing there impatiently. He was wearing a printed shirt, jeans and sneakers, on top, he had a coat that was lined with fur.

"You're late," he growled, glaring at her, "and you know I don't like to wait."

"Sorry," she said, not nearly as apologetic as she wanted to sound.

"And why are you wearing that hideous thing?" Atobe said, shifting his glare to her clothes.

"Was there a uniform for this whole thing?" She argued.

"Just get in," he said, as he entered the car parked yards away.

They were silent as they traveled to a boutique in the city. There were dresses displayed on the windows, and Lina felt that something was creepily wrong about the situation.

"Why are we here?" She said, as Atobe got out of the car, his chauffer opening the door for him.

She got out through the other side.

They entered the store and he immediately met with the manager.

"I'd like a dress that would go well with this girl," he said.

She pulled him to the side, whispering angrily, "what are you doing?"

"My parents are having a party, and dates are mandatory," he said.

"Why would you even choose me?" Lina said, desperation present in her voice.

"Lack of time," he shrugged.

She could only watch in horror as he negotiated with the manager, sitting on a sofa with growing anxiety.

Kami, this was going to be awkward. She was never one for parties or anything like that, sure, Rei had invited her to a couple of them, but she never accepted.

"I'm not the most social being on this planet, Atobe," she pleaded when the manager had gone away to get a dress, "I can't do this."

"Of course, you can," Atobe shrugged as he took a seat next to her, "just don't talk to people."

"But what if they talk to me?" She groaned, throwing her head back.

Atobe looked at her and smirked, "then stick to me."

"And look like we're a couple?" Lina said, horrified, "no, thank you."

"But that's the whole point of you being there," he said, "there are some pretty scary girls and really horrifying mothers out there, and they'd, of course, want me as their future husband or son-in-law. I just really want to avoid those kinds of people."

The corner of her mouth twitched, "seriously? You are the most arrogant person I've ever met."

"But it is true, you know," he shrugged, grabbing a magazine, "I'm a very wanted person."

"Of course you are," she said rolling her eyes.

The manager came back, carrying a dress, and it was the beginning of Lina's ordeal.

* * *

><p>"You have eight left," she growled, refusing to look at him.<p>

They were now in the car, on the way to his house. She held a box in her lap, which contained her dress, shoes, a small purse and rented jewelry.

Atobe said nothing, simply smiling as he looked out the window.

They arrived at his house, and Lina had to admit, it was impressive.

"Are you awed speechless by the magnificence of my mansion?" He smirked as he saw her look out the window.

"I am not even going to answer that question," she said as they stopped.

They got out of the car, and, for some really weird reason, there were maids outside the house, in two lines.

"Welcome home, Keigo-bocchama," they bowed, freaking Lina out.

They entered the mansion and Lina followed Atobe, trying not to keep looking at the expensive things around the mansion. He led her to – what she guessed to be – a guest bedroom.

"Change here," he said as he opened the door, "the hair and make up stylists will be here in a while."

"Alright," she nodded as he left the room.

The room was spacious, and was way bigger compared to her own. There was a four poster canopy bed, a vanity, a closet, and a door, which probably led to a bathroom.

She placed the box on the bed, lifting the lid and placed it next to the box. It was a red tube dress with a heart-shaped neckline, flaring at the waist, reaching the floor. To emphasize the waist, it was studded with rhinestones, going upwards and downwards, fading as it reached the edge. The shoes, thank Kami, were a pair of flats with a rose sewn to the front. The jewelry were mostly silver and diamond studded. Her earrings were small loop earrings, and the necklace was a diamond bib necklace, intricately designed.

After changing into the dress, she heard a knock on the door and opened it. There were two women there.

"Hello, Keigo-bocchama sent us here to fix your hair and make up," one said and entered.

Lina was motioned to the chair of the vanity and she did what the two women said.

They managed to curl her hair beautifully, and her make up wasn't as heavy as she thought they'd do. The first thing she noticed when she had finally looked at the mirror – for she was facing the side for easier access – was that her lips were as red as her dress.

Atobe knocked on the door, already wearing his tuxedo with a red kerchief in his pocket.

Lina stepped out and it took Atobe a while before his mind started to function again. Normally, she wasn't exactly the kind of girl anyone would do a double take on. She wasn't exactly a stunner. But tonight, with her hair curled and the dress accentuating her figure, she was beautiful.

"Do I look fine?" She said, worried. In her hand was the silver purse they had gotten earlier.

"You look good," he said once his mouth and brain were connected again.

"Thank you," she said, glowing at the compliment, even if it was given by such a person as Atobe.

They headed to the ballroom.

He wanted to offer her his arm, but thought against it, she'd have probably rejected it, anyway. She, on the other hand, wondered why he _hadn't_ offered his arm, because wasn't that what people normally did in parties as grand as this?

"So, uhm," Lina said, the silence unnerving her, "who's going to be there?"

"Some families and friends," Atobe said, "and some business partners."

"I see," Lina nodded, "do you often have these kinds of things?"

"Not really," he replied as he turned a corner.

"Do you get lost here?" She asked after minutes of silence and numerous amounts of turns, keeping close to Atobe because she was starting to get really confused about where they were going, "it's an awfully huge place."

"When you get used to it, it's easy," he shrugged as they approached intricately carved double doors.

There were two people outside, a man and a woman, and Lina could immediately tell that it was his parents.

Oh, shit, she wasn't prepared for this kind of thing.

The woman had the same eyes as Atobe, and snippets of his features, with black hair tied back, she was tall, but not taller than him. She seemed to be the kind of woman who smiled all the time. She wore a green tube dress, cut into an elegant serpentine style, her hands and forearms were gloved, her jewelry were emeralds. His father looked more like him, and the same hair color, but it starting to grey. He was wearing a tuxedo with a green kerchief in his pocket.

"Okaa-san, otou-san, this is Echizen Lina-san," Atobe said, turning to her, he said, "these are my parents."

"It's very nice to meet you," she said meekly. Kami, she was scared of his parents. They looked like the rich, snotty society type.

"You are so adorable!" His mother squealed, greatly surprising Lina, "I've heard about you," she glared at her son, "unfortunately, not from Keigo."

"Well, it's not like you ask," he replied nonchalantly.

His mother pouted and looked like she was about to cry, "but, I do, Keigo! You just don't want to answer me."

"Stop making your mother upset, Keigo," his father said tersely, turning to Lina, he smiled kindly, "it's good to meet you, too, Echizen-san," and turning to the double doors, "let's go meet the guests, shall we?"

Atobe and Lina positioned themselves behind his parents, and Atobe decided to offer his arm to his date, and thankfully, she accepted.

As they walked inside, and his parents were out of earshot, Lina whispered, "your parents are so nice, I have no idea why they have a son like you, are you sure you're not adopted?"

The corner of his mouth twitched, "I am a certified Atobe."

She took in a deep breath, taking in all the stares – and glares – that were directed at her.

"Tough crowd," she whispered.

"Now, you know what I mean?" He smirked.

"Absolutely," she whispered back.

"Atobe," someone called out, and Lina recognized it as the Hyoutei Gakuen tennis team regulars.

The pair approached them and Lina noted the odd look exchanged between Atobe and Oshitari – if she remembered the name correctly – but she did decide to ignore the looks that the other team regulars – except for the sleeping one – gave her, a scanning look.

"Echizen Lina-san," Atobe said, "these are the Hyoutei Gakuen tennis team regulars," he introduced each one and they all gave a small nod when they were introduced, the sleeping one awakened by Kabaji.

"Hey," she said simply, not as nervous as when she had met his parents. These people were more or less her equal.

Someone came up next to Atobe and whispered something in his ear.

"I'll leave you with these people first," he said addressing her, leaving afterwards.

_And who said to just 'stick to me', asshole?_ She thought at she watched him walk away to join his father.

"Take a seat, Echizen-san," Oshitari said, pulling out a seat from the nearby table.

"Uhm," she said, feeling quite awkward, "I think I'm fine with standing."

Oshitari nodded, putting the chair back.

"So, you're a pro, huh?" Mukahi said, studying her.

She nodded slowly.

"Interesting," he said, "must not be that hard to be a pro, then."

She clenched her jaw and remained silent, which proved to be a war in itself. Mukahi ignored the glares that came from Oshitari, Ootori, Shishido and Hiyoshi.

"Don't pay attention to Mukahi, Echizen-san," Oshitari said, determined to at least be civil to the girl, "I've watched a couple of your matches, and you deserve the title."

"Thank you, Oshitari-san," she said, smiling.

"That serve you used against Atobe is amazing, Echizen-san," Ootori said.

"It's deteriorated," she shrugged, "but it still serves its purpose."

They continued their conversation, and Lina mostly spoke to Ootori, Shishido, Oshitari and Hiyoshi. Akutagawa was sleeping, Kabaji didn't really speak and Mukahi kept mostly silent, except for a few inputs here and there. She wondered where their dates were, since dates were mandatory.

She sighed, looking for Atobe, wanting to go home and go to the hospital already.

"Aren't you going to eat, Echizen-san?" Shishido said.

"Nope," she said, _can't eat at least eight hours before the damn surgery_.

She looked around once again, Atobe didn't look to be finished with whatever it was that they were talking about.

"Excuse me," Lina said, and headed for the double doors, going out, hopefully unnoticed.

She made her way through the house, trying to find a way out. Kami, the house was really huge, and soon, after a few misguided turns, she was lost. She turned a corner and nearly bumped into someone.

"Rei?" Lina said, recognizing the girl. She was wearing a white, spaghetti strap, backless gown. Her hair was in a bun, she wore simple pearl earrings and a pearl necklace.

"Oh, Lina," Rei was not entirely surprised, "I'm assuming you're here with the Atobe heir, Keigo-kun?"

"Yes, I am," Lina replied, _wow, she calls him Keigo-kun?_ "though I am trying to find a way out. I didn't know you ran in the same circles as the Atobes."

"Lina, I thought you'd at least be able to figure _that_ out, dearie," she said, "but that's alright, I guess. Isn't your surgery tomorrow?"

"Yes, I'm going to check in to the hospital later," the other girl replied, looking around she said, "where's your date?"

"What date?" Rei said, completely clueless.

"Your date? You know, 'cause dates are mandatory…?" The last bit came out more of a question than the statement she intended it to be.

Rei looked at her curiously, "dates aren't mandatory, Lina. Who told you that?"

"That asshole!" She said through gritted teeth.

She felt her anger grow as she thought of all the things she could've been doing the whole day. More _productive_ things. She knew it was a petty thing to get mad about, but what she hated most in the world were people who lied. And she was pretty pissed at the moment.

Which is probably why she shouldn't have called him on the Atobe Line.

"Why the fuck would you lie to me?" She said as soon as he answered his phone, trying not to raise her voice.

"What?"

"You said that dates were mandatory. You could've just told me to go with you, I wouldn't really have minded," she said, pacing around.

Rei watched with growing anxiety.

"You're quite upset, an-"

"Yeah, you got that right! Of all the shit you could've done, you lied to me?"

"Where are you?"

"Fuck you."

Hanging up, she placed the phone back in her bag, she looked to Rei, still seething.

"Could you take me home?"

* * *

><p>(Shout out to <strong>Xana Vlec<strong> for the pre and post surgery details!)

"I'm hungry!" Lina groaned as she lay on the bed, awaiting surgery.

"Too bad, you can't eat anything 'til after the surgery," Ryoma said, annoyingly eating mocha flavored Poptarts in front of her.

"I am going to kill you," she glared at him.

"Now, now, you two," Rinko said, trying to settle the two of them, "stop it," turning to Ryoma, she said, "outside, Ryoma."

Ryoma immediately stopped eating.

Nanjirou sat lazily on the chair, swinging his foot back and forth.

"No words of encouragement, tou-san?"

"Just don't die," he said, bored.

"…thanks, tou-san…" she replied slowly.

She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Oh, Kami, she was so terrified.

There was a knock on the door and Coach Ryuzaki opened the door. Behind her were the tennis team regulars and some non-regulars, in particular Lina's four top trainees.

"Hey, Lina-san," the coach said as she entered and they all managed to fit into the room, with still some space to spare, "just wanted to give you some moral support."

"Thanks, everyone," Lina smiled, feeling some of her fear subside. She wanted to do an air hug, but didn't want to risk moving her hand with the IV in it. It hurt like hell to get that thing in, and she wasn't about to risk it.

"Good luck, senpai," Momoshiro said, leaning against the wall.

"Be strong, coach," Arai, Nagayama, Fushimi and Yushimura said, nicely – but it would've normally been creepy – in chorus, they were standing in front of Momoshiro.

"Let's have a match when you're healed," Fuji smiled at her as he stood at the foot of her bed.

"Hang in there," Kawamura smiled, standing next to Fuji.

"You have a 56.47 percent chance of going through successfully, Lina-san," Inui said, in his oddly comforting way. Hey, at least 56.47 percent was more than half, right?

After a few moments of silence after what Inui had said, Eiji spoke up, getting between Kawamura and Fuji.

"Play a match with me, too, Lina-chan!"

"I know you'll be fine, Lina-san," Oishi said, smiling at her, standing next to her mother.

"You'll be fine, senpai," Kaidou said, giving her a rare smile that she could barely see from his position by the door, hands in his pockets.

"Stay strong, Lina-san, we know you'll be healed," Tezuka said from his position beside Ryoma, everyone expected him to smile, but he didn't.

The anesthesiologist came in and proceeded to apply anesthesia on her. He started with an injection using the IV.

"Well, it's not taking effect, yet," Lina shrugged, wincing when she moved her IV hand.

She lay back, breathing. She could feel her heart rate slowing down, and her body getting heavy.

Moments later, they placed a gas mask on her face, for the gas anesthesia. It felt really awkward, breathing the odd smelling gas in.

And then she remembered, turning to her mom, her words coming out muffled, but still distinguishable, "use my Junior Grand Slam money to pay for the surgery."

Rinko shook her head, "it's already been taken care of, Lina, someone else already paid for it."

At that point, she was getting dizzy as they used the remote control of the bed to lay her back down, but her mind was still able to function though her words came out in somewhat of a slur, "who paid for it?"

Her mother looked curiously at her, as if Lina should already know, "the Atobe Group."

"What? You can't accept money from them, okaa-san! Give it back and use my money, I refuse to let anyone pay for my surgery! I'm NOT a charity case," was what she was supposed to say, until everything went black and she was cut off midspeech.

Fuck you, Atobe Keigo.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Hey guys! What do you think? Sorry, this chapter seems a bit rushed =( But I'd REALLY REALLY like to know what you guys think of Naomi, who's a friend's OC. Anyways, as always, you guys can review about anything really =)


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note:** Hey guys! Here's another chapter, although it is definitely shorter =( But fear not! The next one shall definitely be longer. Once again, thanks for all the fave, reviews and alerts =)

**ShamelesslyUsed:** Aww! Thank you! That made my day =) I'm glad you like the story.

**IfLooksCouldKill13:** Yeah, I update pretty fast, but the flaw there is that the chapter comes out looking rushed, but sometimes I can't really tell between a rushed work or a simplified one =( Which is why I should probably get a beta, right?

**Ciel Blanche: **Yeah, '-_- he just should stop trying to make things right, really. Anyways, I think there's sort of drama here? But I can never really tell, so yeah... =) As for the OC, she comes in later on and I think she's more essential to Lina's growth than anyone else's, so yeah, I think she's a critical part of the story.

**nana:** Don't worry, nothing like that... Naomi's older, and I intend her and Ryoma for other people. As for Atobe and Lina, I will definitely be writing more scenes about them, because it _is _AtobexLina, but at this point in the story, it's hard to write about them 'cause I can only do so much in a hospital setting.

**Xana Vlec****:** Yeah, I think Atobe's cute, too. But in some weird arrogant, prideful kind of way that Lina doesn't really appreciate. ANYWAYS, I fail at laser tag, too. There was even this one time that a kid just kept following me and kept shooting me whenever I revived. I still haven't gotten my revenge.

Enjoy, you guys!

* * *

><p>Ryoma sat in the waiting room, waiting for the surgery to finish. It had started about an hour ago, and he wasn't quite sure what time it would finish.<p>

"Echizen," Momoshiro said, sitting on the chair next to him, "you alright?"

Ryoma simply nodded, though he couldn't stop the sweating of his palms.

This was Lina's last chance. If the surgery didn't work, she would never be able to play tennis ever again, and he was afraid of what she would do in that situation.

He looked to the side, the Seishun Gakuen regulars were all there, along with his sister's four trainees. Arai, Fushimi, Oishi and Eiji were sitting in a circle on the floor, playing a card game, and, no, Ryoma did not know where the cards came from. Coach Ryuzaki, Fuji, Tezuka and Inui were talking with Rinko and Nanjirou, but Ryoma couldn't be sure if they knew who his father was exactly. They probably did. Kawamura, Nagayama and Yoshimura were eating and Kaidou, as always, sat alone.

Ryoma actually had to smile at that. Lina had these people to help her cope with whatever was going to happen.

* * *

><p>Lina woke up and slowly opened her eyes, wondering what the fuck was on her face. Of course, she wasn't prepared for the pain that came when she lifted her hand – her freakin' IV hand – to her face.<p>

Kami, she felt like she was hit by a train – not that she ever really experienced it, but she definitely thought that might've been what one would definitely feel when hit by a train.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Echizen-san," someone said, and she saw the nurse and Rinko come into view, "you're going to feel that way for a while."

Lina slowly placed her hand back, feeling that the pain coming from the IV was irrelevant compared to the whole I've-been-hit-by-a-train pain she was feeling at the moment.

"I'll call the doctor," the nurse said to Rinko as she turned and left.

"How do you feel?" Her mother asked as she placed her palm on Lina's cheek and her other hand held Lina's non-IV hand.

"Like I'm dying," she groaned groggily. Her words came out muffled because of the oxygen mask she had on her nose and mouth.

"You'll be fine, Lina," Rinko said after rolling her eyes, with a smile on her face, she continued, "the surgery was a success."

Despite the pain she felt at the moment, she smiled and squeezed her mother's hand. She could feel tears sting her eyes and go down the side of her face.

"Don't cry, Lina," Rinko laughed, though she was getting teary eyed, wiping the tears off her daughter's face.

Lina looked to the side, where her father was sitting, smiling at her.

"Glad you're awake, kid," he said, placing his hand on her forearm.

"Where's Ryoma?" Lina asked, wondering where her little brother was, "and what day is it?"

"He's at school," Rinko replied, "it's Monday."

The doctor came in and Lina tried desperately to sit up, even with the bed rising to let her sit up, there was still a shit load of pain. Her back was killing her and it felt like her spine was made of glass at the moment.

"Try not to move so much, Echizen-san," the doctor said addressing Lina, "it'll get better later on," she saw him ruffling papers in his clipboard and knew that he was looking at her charts, "the surgery was a success, we were able to repair the damaged heart valve and the muscle strength is still intact."

There was silence and Lina waited for the doctor to tell her the most important thing she wanted to hear.

"Now, I hear you play tennis," he started, "you'd have to take it easy for maybe four to six weeks, no strenuous exercises, but other than that, you can play as long as you want."

She squeezed her mother's hand, feeling fresh tears go down her face, she was even laughing, and though it brought a ton of pain, at that point she didn't really care.

Echizen Lina would be able to play tennis again.

* * *

><p>Atobe leaned against the wall across Lina's bed, waiting for her to wake up.<p>

Oshitari would definitely be pissed at him for skipping practice, but whatever. He was the captain. He could do whatever the fuck he wanted.

He had been led in by the nurse and he had found her asleep, alone in the room. Her bed was bent and her breathing even, he could tell by the fogging up off the oxygen mask. Other than that, she was quite still.

Her eyes fluttered open and she groaned with the pain.

Upon seeing him, she glared.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Her voice was a cross between being groggy and groaning.

"Visiting you," he replied.

"I don't want you to," she replied, her voice clear despite her appearance and the oxygen mask, "get out."

He didn't do or say anything, simply staying put. He knew she was mad, but he thought she'd be happy if they paid for her surgery. Maybe she didn't know about it?

"You had no right to do that," she said.

"Lie to you? You-"

"No," she shook her head, wincing at the pain the gesture brought, "you shouldn't have paid for my surgery."

"My mother was happy to do it," he replied, "she was quite taken with you."

"You still shouldn't have," she glared at him, "I'm not a charity case."

"It's a gift!"

"Do you know how shitty I feel right now? And I don't mean the physical pain."

He became silent. He never intended that.

"Get out."

After a few moments, he did.

* * *

><p>The next day, the shit load of pain lulled down to a dull sort of ache, and since she felt as if she'd been in her hospital room forever doing some minor exercises that she was determined to say did nothing to her general health, Lina forced herself to get off the bed and do some walking exercises. The nurses, surprisingly, were very supportive, and actually said that they were going to make her walk later that day anyway, but they did congratulate her for the initiative.<p>

That was how the Seigaku tennis team regulars found her, with two nurses with her, one on each side and a jacket around her shoulders. One nurse was wheeling an oxygen tank along, which was connected to her oxygen mask, the other nurse was the one who held Lina's hand while her other hand was gripping the IV stand for support.

"Hey, guys," she said, her voice muffled by the annoying oxygen mask.

They seemed to be surprised to see her walking around already. They were all wearing their team jackets, except for Momoshiro.

"Shouldn't you be in bed, resting?" Oishi said in his usual worried way.

"No," she said, shaking her head which now just brought on a slight head ache, "I have to use my muscles as soon as possible, so that the blood will circulate right and it won't go into atrophy."

"We brought you flowers!" Momoshiro said, carrying a huge bouquet.

Among the flowers were roses, carnations and lilies, reminding her of Atobe and his visits during the time when she had collapsed. Those were the flowers he picked off from the bouquet he always brought, leaving them with her. The reminder of Atobe just caused her anger to resurface and she didn't want to think about it at the moment.

"Thank you," she smiled, seeing how wide the hall was she said, "walk with me?"

The nurses let Kaidou wheel the oxygen tank, while Ryoma replaced the nurse who was assisting Lina. They stood in front of the group, keeping watch of their patient.

"How's training coming along?" She breathed, suddenly feeling like she was Darth Vader.

"We're coming along fine," Tezuka replied, "but one can never have enough practice, really."

"You better watch our first match, alright, Lina-chan?" Eiji said, as usual, energetically.

"Of course! They said that my scheduled discharge is Friday, if everything goes well," Lina said.

They walked along slowly, due to the pacing that Lina had set, for about fifteen minutes. Soon, she was tired and went back to her hospital room.

As she lay back in bed, the regulars all settled themselves in, some sitting on the floor, the others leaning on the wall, Ryoma and Tezuka were the ones who sat on the chairs in the room.

Sometime later, while they were still there and talking, she fell asleep, tired.

"She's surprisingly a very strong person," Oishi commented, "she's been through a lot."

"Well, nee-san loves tennis so much, she'd do anything for it, really," Ryoma said as he scanned through one of the tennis magazines present in the room, "she's always worked hard for her skills, never resting until her techniques are perfected."

"Ochibi's such an adorable otouto," Eiji teased, and simply smiled when Ryoma glared at him while the others snickered.

It became Lina's routine for the next two days. She'd do some minor exercises, and then she'd walk with some of the members of the Seigaku regulars for more and more time each day. After her walk, she'd usually talk with the regulars, eat and rest. Tezuka brought her homework over to the hospital and was kind enough to help her learn the lessons.

On Friday, the Seigaku regulars changed to their uniforms, preparing to go to the hospital to visit their manager-coach.

"I wonder when Lina-chan can play tennis again," Eiji said as they were about to leave the tennis courts.

"The doctor says she'll be able to play in about six weeks, maybe even less than that," Inui replied.

"Man, I really want to play a match against Lina-senpai," Momoshiro commented.

"Too bad, Momoshiro-kun," Fuji said, "I'm going to have a match with her first."

"I thought I was going to play against her first!" Eiji exclaimed.

"I get to play a match against nee-san first, I'm her brother," Ryoma said, joining into the conversation.

"Seems like an interesting thing, to play a match against a pro like Lina-san," Oishi said.

Kaidou agreed.

"I want to play a match against Lina-san, too," Kawamura said.

Everyone except Tezuka and Inui, glared at him, "get in line."

"Interesting," Inui said, "how about this…"

They all stopped and looked back at him.

"Whoever gets to Lina-san's hospital room first gets to play a match against her right after she can play again," Inui said, he lifted a thermos and a creepy smile appeared on his face, "whoever's last, must drink this."

"And what is that?" Momoshiro said, cringing.

"It's the Super Deluxe Royal Veggie Juice I came up with for Lina-san."

Before he even finished the sentence, they were all out of the gate, taking different routes to get to the hospital. Hell, even Tezuka was running.

Ryoma had taken the easiest route he could remember, his speed was his advantage. He was pretty sure Kaidou would be one of the first, for he had a ton of stamina, and Eiji would be one of the last, if not the last, for his lack of stamina. Most likely, Fuji or Kawamura with his racquet was going to get there first, but at that point he just didn't want to be last.

Shit, he was right. He could already see Fuji enter the hospital, next to Kawamura, who was holding his racquet, followed closely by Momoshiro and Kaidou, who were shoulder to shoulder, trying to get past each other. Behind them was Tezuka, and Ryoma didn't plan to lose to the captain, so he ran faster.

By the time they got to the corridor where Lina's room was located, they were pushing to get to the front, Eiji and Oishi behind them.

They all barged in to the room, falling to the floor.

The two people in the room looked at them.

Lina was looking curiously at them, while the second one seemed amused.

Ryoma had no trouble recognizing him.

"Nii-san?"

* * *

><p><strong><strong>Author's Note:<strong> **Hey guys, so Ryoga is now in play =) Oh, yeah, just a survey, if I made a Seishun Gakuen High School sequel for this story, would you read it? Please review! =)


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: **Hey guys! So, once again, as always, thank you for reading this story and putting it in your faves, or alerts list and for reviewing, too. I am so happy =) Anyways, this might be the last update for a while. LOL. No, just 'til Saturday. I have exams and all that. I don't want to fail! =)

**ShamelesslyUsed:** Yeah, of course he would, he's Inui. =) Anyways, that's an interesting suggestion you have there, I'll think about it! And I am soooooo happy you feel that way! =)

**IfLooksCouldKill: **Yup! Yehey for Ryoga! =) Ryoma must have a ton of relatives in his family, and all of them must be nutters =)

**Xana Vlec: **You would? That makes me so happy! TT-TT Anyways, yeah, I remember the laser tag kid. I'll see if I can find him. I shall take my revenge =)))

**Ciel Blanche: **Well, I really did like Ryoga, and I was contemplating whether or not I wanted to put him in, but YOU made me decided! So give yourself a pat on the back! =)

**Inferno Caeli: **I know! He's so adorable! TTATT

**Sprig:** Yeah, that's right. Momoshiro is an oracle. XDDD

Anyways, guys~ Please enjoy! And don't forget to review! It makes me update faster =)

* * *

><p>"Nii-san?" The Seigaku regulars exclaimed.<p>

All looked at the Echizen sibling that neither one of the two told the team about.

The youngest regular ignored them, he stood up from the ground and glared at the eldest Echizen standing at the side of Lina's bed.

"Yo, Chibisuke!" Ryoga smirked, raising his hand.

"What are you doing here, nii-san?" Ryoma said, still glaring.

"Can't I visit my imouto-chan after her first major surgery?" Ryoga shrugged.

"Ryoga-nii."

Ryoga looked to Lina and was barely able to dodge the punch she aimed at him.

"Don't think I'll lower my guard just because you're in the hospital, Li-chan," Ryoga smirked as he got a piece of orange from the basket set on the bed, after taking a bite, yes, with the peel still intact, he continued, "besides, I don't think you should go around punching people in the condition you're in."

"That's my orange," she growled.

"I brought it!" Ryoga reasoned as Lina grabbed an orange from the orange laden basket and threw it at his shoulder.

"You brought it for me. Therefore it is mine. I say you can't eat it," she said and threw another orange at him, harder this time.

"But you're just throwing it, Li-chan!" He said, dodging the orange and picking it up, "it's a waste of perfectly good oranges."

"It's mine," she said, serious.

By this time, the Seigaku regulars had all gotten themselves off the floor. Who the winner – or the loser – of the little game was unclear, but Inui would know for sure.

Silence fell in the room, and everyone, except for the three siblings, were sure that they should not have been there.

* * *

><p>"Fifty extra laps!" Atobe shouted at the tennis team regulars.<p>

"You've got to be kidding me!" Mukahi complained as they started another lap, falling behind the group.

Oshitari looked to Atobe, who was casually sitting on the benches, watching them run. The Hyoutei Gakuen tennis genius was pretty sure all this frustration had to do with the girl named Echizen Lina.

"What the hell is wrong with Atobe?" Ootori said, coming up beside Oshitari.

"Yeah, Oshitari, he's been driving us to the ground for the past three days," Shishido said in between breaths.

"I want to sleep," Akutagawa said in somewhat of a sob.

Oshitari remained silent, clenching his jaw.

"What happened?" He asked as Atobe was preparing to leave.

"Nothing," Atobe said, placing his racquet in his tennis bag.

"Hey, Echizen-san."

Atobe immediately looked around, looking for the girl, who was definitely not there.

"I knew it," Oshitari said with a knowing smirk, "this is either about Echizen _Lina_ or Echizen _Ryoma_. But I'm pretty sure this is about Echizen Lina, unless…"

"No, I am not gay," the captain replied, glaring at the tensai, who remained unfazed.

Raising both his hands in surrender, Oshitari said, "alright, alright! I believe you."

A few moments passed in which Atobe finished fixing his things and Oshitari remained silent.

"You should apologize," Oshitari commented nonchalantly.

"What?" Atobe said, looking at the tensai tennis player incredulously.

"I mean, she's pissed at you, right?" Oshitari said, more of a statement than a question.

"Why do you care?" The captain asked suspiciously.

"The real question here, captain," the tensai replied, turning to leave, "is why are you so affected?"

* * *

><p>"Okaa-san, that is absolutely ridiculous!" Lina whined during dinner at the Echizen household, right after her discharge from the hospital.<p>

"I can't watch you all the time because I have work," Rinko said, "and I can't trust your father to do it," she glared at Nanjirou, "so your nii-san will have to watch over you, alright, Ryoga?"

Ryoga simply nodded dutifully, smirking at his younger sister, who, in turn, stuck her tongue out at him.

"But I'm watching the Kantou Tournament tomorrow!" She reasoned.

"Then bring your brother with you," Rinko replied calmly, "you don't mind, do you, Ryoga?"

"Not at all, okaa-san," Ryoga replied, simply smirking at Lina.

Ryoma simply sat in his seat, idly pushing his food around the plate, glaring at it and occasionally shifting his glare to his older brother. Nanjirou simply yawned at the proceedings, wanting to leave the table and be occupied with his magazines.

"Besides, I really don't think you should be going places when you just got out of the hospital, Lina," their mother replied, and upon seeing Lina open her mouth to say something, Rinko continued, "but you're going to do it anyway, so you might as well go with your brother."

"But I'll be going with Ryoma," Lina said, "and it's not like Ryoga-nii likes to take care of sick people like me."

"Ryoma won't be able to watch over you," her mother replied, "besides, Ryoga seems fine with it."

"I am," Ryoga replied, continuing to triumphantly smirk at his little sister.

Lina glared at him and turned to her mother, "okaa-san, does it not bother you at all that nii-san disappeared for a few years and he suddenly appears just now?"

Her mother shrugged, "not entirely."

Lina looked at her mother in absolute disbelief, she looked to her father, who just shrugged.

Her family was crazy.

* * *

><p>"Oishi's not here yet," Lina whispered, looking around nervously.<p>

It was fifteen minutes before registration would end, and if Oishi wouldn't arrive, Seigaku would be disqualified.

"Momo-senpai already went to fetch him," Ryoma said, casually drinking his juice.

"He won't be coming back with Oishi, though," the coach said, coming up beside the Echizen siblings.

"Why not?" Lina inquired.

"Oishi's broken his wrist," Coach Ryuzaki replied.

Lina said nothing, and simply waited for Momoshiro to return. She was wearing a loose fitting jacket over her grey shirt and jeans, because the gauze over her chest was bulging out really weirdly, making her look like a freak, and in turn, making her feel uncomfortable.

"Did you already take your medicines?" Ryoga said behind her, holding out a backpack.

She didn't say anything, simply grabbing the bag from him and taking the medicines in with water.

"Happy, mother?" She mocked as she handed him the bag.

They were right outside of where the first round for Seigaku and Hyoutei were to happen, waiting for the matches to start, and for Momoshiro to arrive.

"Echizen-san," someone said, behind her.

The three siblings looked back, wondering who was being addressed.

The Hyoutei Gakuen tennis team was behind them.

"Oshitari-san," Lina greeted, nodding her head to Oshitari, who was the one who called her, she also greeted the other members, and they all noted how she conveniently left Atobe out of her greetings.

"I hope the surgery went well?" Oshitari inquired, risking a glance at Atobe.

Lina nodded, smiling.

"Good luck in the match," she said with a genuine smile.

"You should cheer for your own team," Mukahi smirked, "they'll need it."

"I just want to watch a good match," she shrugged, placing her hand on her chest, her incision was choosing that moment to be itchy.

"Are you alright?" Atobe asked, his face unreadable.

"Just peachy," she replied, quietly. She turned to the side and saw Momoshiro arrive, turning back, she said, "well, I'm looking forward to your matches. Good luck, you guys."

With that, she turned to go do her job of managing the team.

Ryoma smirked up at Atobe as he left, and Ryoga was intrigued at what had just happened.

There was tension in the air as the Seishun Gakuen and Hyoutei Gakuen tennis teams entered the area, and the hugely Hyoutei-favored crowd cheered for their own team.

"Hyoutei seems to be really popular," Ryoga commented as he sat, watching as the doubles match started.

"The winner will be Hyoutei! The loser will be Seigaku!"

"Yeah," Lina said, pacing around.

"If you keep pacing around like that, Li-chan, you're going to get so tired, you'll fall asleep during one of the matches."

"I'll be fine, Ryoga-nii," she replied hastily.

However, by the time the game with Kawamura and Kabaji had finished, Lina was having mixed emotions. She felt absolutely excited at having watched such amazing high-level games, but her body was starting to get tired, and she was starting to feel like she was going to fall asleep anytime soon.

"I told you, Li-chan," Ryoga smirked as she yawned.

She glared at him, "shut up."

She went to where Kawamura and Coach Ryuzaki were, to check on his hand, which was most likely injured from playing with Kabaji.

"I think you should get a surgical doctor to look at that, Kawamura-san," she replied upon seeing his hand, "injuries like that might completely destroy your hand, I mean, those shots were quite powerful."

"I agree," the coach said.

Lina saw Kabaji and said to the coach, "I think you should also take Kabaji-san, sensei."

Coach Ryuzaki nodded, turning to Tezuka, "I'll leave everything to you, Tezuka, I'll be back in a while."

"Yes," Tezuka nodded.

The coach turned to Lina and said, "you take my position as bench coach, Lina-san."

"Alright, sensei," Lina smiled because this was the game she was waiting for and she was going to be watching it up close. Upon seeing Ryoma head for the bench, she said, "sorry, otouto-kun," she immediately took the seat, smirking at him, "I'm bench coach."

"I'm pretty sure you're about to fall over," Ryoma commented.

"I am not!" She said, yawning.

"I'd like Lina-san as my bench coach," Fuji smiled as he picked his racquet.

"Singles two match is about to start!" The referee called out, making Ryoma leave, "players please enter the courts."

"Go all out, Fuji," Ryuzaki-sensei said as she left the court.

Lina looked to the side and saw Atobe looking at her, she shifted her gaze to Akutagawa.

"Best of one set match, Fuji to serve!" The referee said, officially starting the match.

Lina felt shivers run through her whole being when Fuji's serve just seemed to disappear. She gulped and her eyes were wide. This was definitely a boy she wanted to play tennis with. And she didn't care how long she'd have to wait.

Sooner – or was it later? – amidst the loud cheering and the shouting, her eyes just seemed to have a mind of its own and decided to close themselves on her. Her body leaning back on the bench and she started to nod off, shutting down to get the necessary rest she had been depriving herself of for the past hour or so.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Ryoma shouted, desperately thinking of a way to wake his sister up, "I knew she was about to fall over!"

"She's really tired," Momoshiro commented amused that the bench-coach would be sleeping during one of the best matches of the first round.

"Is it safe to just leave her there?" Oishi asked Ryoga, worried.

"She'll be fine," Ryoga said, looking bored as hell, waving his hand in dismissal.

"Are you sure?" Eiji asked the corner of his lips twitching, wondering if this boy was really her older brother.

"Absolutely," he nodded, "she'll wake up sooner or later anyways."

"Nee-san! Nee-san!" Ryoma called out, trying to wake Lina up with his racquet. However, all he accomplished was pushing her down so that she was lying on the bench, her legs hanging off the edge.

Atobe was barely able to concentrate on the match. Kami, was she just…? Oh, yes, she was. Echizen Lina was sleeping inside the tennis court.

Of course, the referee didn't seem to notice, and she continued to sleep through the rest of the match. While watching, his annoyance at her behavior turned to something he didn't usually feel for other people, worry. Was she really supposed to be out of the hospital already? Was she sleeping or did she faint? Because he was pretty sure that not even the heaviest sleeper could sleep through the noise in the court at the moment.

He saw the rise and fall of her chest, and some of his worry ebbed away upon seeing that it was absolutely regular and she looked to be healthy.

Atobe turned to Oshitari, who was looking at him with a knowing expression, which irritated him all the more.

"He's going to be depressed," Mukahi said when the referee had announced a loss for Hyoutei.

"Did you see that serve? It just disappeared! And that counter? It was so amazing! I couldn't even hit it back!" Akutagawa said excitedly jumping up and down, he pointed at Fuji, "you're amazing!"

"Like he's ever going to get depressed," Ootori whispered to Shishido.

"You're strong, too," Fuji said, "I don't think I could take those volleys of yours."

"But you didn't even let me hit any of them!" Akutagawa exclaimed.

Fuji leaned down, reaching for Lina to wake her up.

"Let her sleep," Ryoga said before he could wake her, entering the court.

He hooked his arms around her neck and the back of her knees and lifted her. She was immediately replaced by Ryoma.

"I was hoping to show her my Triple Counters," Fuji commented as he watched Ryoga carry Lina out of the court and gently lay her on the benches.

"Today's too much excitement for her condition, senpai," Ryoma shrugged.

"Your brother seems like an interesting guy," the older boy replied, drinking water, "does he play tennis, too? Seems to be a family thing."

"Yeah, he does."

Fuji simply smiled. There seemed to be some pretty interesting people popping up lately.

Falling asleep during Fuji's match, the next thing Lina knew was waking up to shouts and cheering, and then she realized that she was no longer at the bench.

"What happened?" She said, sitting up so suddenly that she felt dizzy.

"Fuji won the game and Ryoma's playing now," Ryoga said, smirking as he watched the match.

"But Ryoma's a reserve player!" Lina exclaimed, and then she realized, "that means… Tezuka lost…?"

"It seems he had an injury that never truly healed," Ryoga replied.

Lina looked to the court, and smiled, "Ryoma seems really excited, Ryoga-nii."

Ryoga nodded once in agreement.

* * *

><p>"With three wins, two losses and one tie, Seishun Gakuen wins!"<p>

The Seigaku supporters all cheered, but with a snap of the Hyoutei captain's fingers, the cheering for Hyoutei started once again, louder than ever.

Atobe watched from the corner of his eye as Lina leaned on her brother, asleep once again. Kami, why did she even leave the hospital?

But this was going to be the perfect opportunity.

Lina woke up, not opening her eyes yet. It was unusually quiet.

"Ryoga-nii?" She said opening her eyes.

Instead of the brother she was expecting to see, she was faced with the Hyoutei Gakuen tennis team captain.

She looked around. They were alone.

"Where's Ryoga-nii?" She glared at him.

"He left," Atpbe said, "he said he'd come back in a while, told me to look after you."

"You honestly think I'd belie-" she cut herself off, "yeah, sounds plausible."

There was silence. Lina sighed.

"What do you want?" She said looking up at him.

"I bought you gifts," he said, motioning to beautifully wrapped boxes beside her, "so would you please talk to me already?"

She glanced at the gifts and glared at him, shaking her head.

"You don't get it, do you?" She said standing, ignoring the dizziness that came over her, "I don't want your money, I never wanted you to get me gifts, and I never wanted to be indebted to you!"

"Then what _do_ you want?" Atobe said, not knowing exactly what to do.

"Baka," Oshitari whispered from behind a wall, beside him were the Hyoutei Gakuen tennis team regulars plus Echizen Ryoga.

"You know what?" Lina said, looking disappointedly at him, "for a while, I actually liked being your friend."

* * *

><p>"I said apologize to her, not bribe her," Oshitari said when they had gotten into the car.<p>

"How was I supposed to know?" Atobe said, under his breath he murmured, "stupid Google."

"So what are you going to do now?" The tensai said.

Atobe said nothing, looking out the window as the car started to move.

* * *

><p>Later that night, Lina ignored the ringing and ringing that the Atobe Line kept doing. Kami, it had a <em>really<em> long battery life.

She had gotten back to the house with Ryoma and Ryoga, and she wasn't on speaking terms with the latter. She glared at him several times during the course of dinner, and he simply shrugged it off. He had totally been in cahoots with Atobe and she couldn't quite forgive him for that, at least not yet. He seemed to have no trouble baring her anger either.

Finally, she got so annoyed at the vibrating sound that she just answered the damned phone.

"What. Do. You. Want."

"Go outside your house," the voice on the other line said, "please."

The shock that he said 'please' made her go outside immediately, placing her jacket and slippers on. He was standing outside her house, still in his tennis uniform.

"What?" She said sharply.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking at his feet, hands in his pocket.

She clenched her jaw, hell, at least he said it.

She sighed, "just don't do it again."

Yeah, just like that. She forgave Atobe Keigo. Kami, she was such a moron. She just couldn't stay mad that long, could she?

"But the payment for your surgery was really a gift," Atobe said.

"Well, it's not like I can give it back, really," she shrugged, "okaa-san seemed happy to accept it anyway."

"I never meant for you to feel bad," he said, "I just… wanted to help and make things right."

"It's a habit of mine, help from others has never been something I've really liked," she said, looking at him, "in the future, just… don't try to make things right."

They were silent for a while.

"So, uhm," Atobe said, unsure, "what next? I don't usually do these kinds of things."

She laughed at him, "I can tell."

"Are we… friends?" He said, unsure of the term.

"Friends," she replied, smiling at him.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Yeah, Lina can't carry a grudge '-_- So, what do you think? Please review so I know, people. It's hard to write when you have absolutely no idea how people feel about the story TTATT Thank you!


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: **I am so terribly sorry for the relatively late update - my standards - I just got caught up with a couple of things. But good news! I AM FREE FROM SCHOOL! Well, actually not really, I just have to attend some graduation practices and I'm pretty much set =) Anyways, as always, I am now going to thank those who placed this story on their alerts and faves, and for those who review, I must tell you that you guys make my day. I'm not even exaggerating.

**ShamelesslyUsed:** The friends stage is the most adorable stage of a soon-to-be romantic relationship, at least that's what I think. And thank you. Sometimes, I just have to keep writing and writing, because I keep coming up with ideas and I just really have to write them all down, hence the fast updates. And I feel all guilty for not updating so fast.

**Ciel Blanche: **You seem to have a knack for always making me smile when reading your review =) As for the hostility between Ryoma and Lina, and Ryoga, there is a reason for that. And you shall find out pretty soon. Like right in this chapter =)

**Xana Vlec: **I need to learn to be stealthy in laser tag TT-TT Anyways, I'm not much of a romantic writer and reading your review made me really happy.

**windwolf1988:** I am very happy that you feel that way! Thank you!

* * *

><p>"Are we going to talk?" Ryoga said, leaning on the door to her room, his arms folded over his chest.<p>

Lina had just come back into the house, right after saying goodnight to Atobe. It was dark and the only light source was the moon.

At first, her cheeks turned red, and then her expression became unreadable, "no."

"What's the matter, Lina?" Ryoga said, "talk to me, imouto-chan."

"I don't want to, Ryoga-nii," Lina said, looking down.

"Why not?" He asked.

She looked up, something in her snapping, her voice showing more vehemence than she meant, "_please_ don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Act like nothing is wrong," she looked at him, her lips slightly quivering, "remember, Ryoga-nii, _you_ left _us_, so don't act as if everything can be okay just because you came back."

"Isn't that how it's supposed to work?" He asked, standing straight.

"_No_. Ryoma and I saw you as our older brother, _and you left us_," she spat, surprising herself. She didn't know she was _that_ angry. She could feel stinging in her eyes and swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat.

Ryoga remained silent as she entered her room and closed the door behind her.

She sighed once she had closed the door. Kami, she wasn't prepared for Ryoga to come back. He had left so suddenly two years ago that she never got to deal with the overwhelming feelings of loss that she had felt, just locking it all up in the back of her mind. He had left them and he didn't even say anything.

She wiped away the tears that were forming in her eyes.

Kami, her life was getting weirder, harder, and more dramatic by the minute.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Tyler!" Lina said as she spotted the younger girl in the grocery store, looking at the ceiling, as if looking for something.<p>

"Ah, Lina!" Naomi exclaimed, a big smile on her face, "what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to get some Poptarts," she smiled as she spoke in English, Naomi still didn't seem to understand any of it, "Ryoga-nii's here, too. What are you doing here?"

"I saw this really cute butterfly go inside," Naomi said, the innocent smile on her face widening.

Lina smiled, Naomi was still the same as ever, getting easily distracted.

"Ryoga's here, too? That's great!" The younger girl smiled.

"Yeah…" Lina replied, unsure.

They were in one of the numerous isles that she had gone through and Lina _still_ couldn't find the mocha flavored Poptarts she had been craving for since her surgery. Ryoga was in one of the other isles, looking for it.

Ryoga's head came into view as he looked through the isles, and upon seeing her, he said, "Li-chan! I found the Poptarts!" He held up the box of Poptarts and shook it as he came closer.

It was Oreo flavored.

"Well, it will have to do," she sighed as she took the box of Poptarts from him.

Ryoga noticed Naomi at that moment, "ah! Naomi!"

"Hey, Ryoga!" Naomi smiled looking up at him, "so you're here in Japan, too, huh?"

"Well," Ryoga shrugged and turned his gaze to Lina, "the family's here."

Lina clenched her jaw and looked away. Yeah, they really did need to talk.

"Where do you live, Tyler? Just around Tokyo or what?" Lina smiled, ignoring Ryoga.

"Yeah, somewhere around here," Naomi motioning her hand in a circle, "I was thinking of familiarizing myself with the area, so I went to walk around Tokyo. Though, those signs are hell hard to understand, and there are only so many people who can speak decent English."

"Well, you're in Japan, Naomi," Ryoga said, "when in Rome, do what Romans do, right?"

"But Romans invented the English alphabet, Ryoga," Naomi replied, "Japanese, on the other hand, have a whole load of different characters that I can't tell apart."

"But it's easy to learn it," Lina shrugged, thinking of when exactly she had learned Japanese, in the end, she couldn't remember when her mother had started teaching her.

"But you're Japanese, Lina!" Naomi exclaimed, "there's supposed to be some programming in your brain about learning Japanese."

Lina and Ryoga laughed.

"It doesn't work that way," Lina said ruffling her hair.

Ryoga sighed, "we should be going, Li-chan."

Lina nodded and turned to Naomi, "do you want to go have lunch?"

The younger girl agreed immediately.

While on their way out – after paying for the Oreo flavored Poptarts, of course – Naomi bumped into a kid and was splashed with a slushie.

"Oh, Kami," Lina said, as the slushie dribbled down the girl's clothes and unto the floor.

"That's going to get disgustingly sticky," Ryoga commented.

"I'm sorry," the kid said, remorseful.

"It's alright, kid," Naomi said smiling at the child. She might not know enough Japanese to save her life, but she could at least understand that.

The kid, not understanding English, simply ran away.

Lina watched the kid run away and then turned to Naomi, "you want to get changed first? I could lend you some clothes, our house is just really nearby."

Naomi agreed with a smile.

* * *

><p>"Ah, it's too big for you," Lina said upon seeing Naomi go out of the bathroom, "typical, it's a little big for me, too."<p>

Naomi raised her foot to see if her foot could actually reach the end of the pants. It couldn't.

Lina looked up, thinking of something, and she walked out of the room. Moments later, she came back to the room and handed Naomi some clothes.

"These are Ryoma's clothes," she grinned, "they'll fit perfectly."

Naomi took them without question and changed into it.

Lina laughed once she saw Naomi come out of the bathroom.

The younger girl looked at her curiously.

"You look like a boy, Tyler!" Lina said, "it's just really funny."

Naomi looked at the mirror. With her hair tied back, a shirt and pants over her body, no wonder she looked like a boy.

"Come on, Tyler," Lina said, turning back at the door, "let's go have lunch out. I know this really awesome place to eat at."

"Where's Ryoma?" Naomi asked as she followed.

"Otou-san took him out to do something or whatever," the older girl answered as they went down the stairs.

She stopped in her tracks and grinned.

"You know what? Just for fun," she said and went back up the stairs and came back with a cap, Ryoma's Fila cap.

She placed it on Naomi and grinned.

"You look so adorable!"

* * *

><p>"Okay, I was pretty sure it was here," Lina said as they turned at yet another corner to find another dead end.<p>

Ryoga groaned, throwing his head back and Naomi simply shrugged.

"I think we're lost, Lina," Naomi said and Ryoga agreed.

"We are not," Lina said, "we just need to go a little farther away, I'm sure it's around here somewhere."

"Balloons!" Naomi exclaimed, becoming distracted upon seeing a balloon vendor walk by. Before she could run after the balloons, however, Ryoga grabbed her.

Kami, this was even worse than he had thought. He was lost with a directionless girl and another who had absolutely no focus.

"Let's just have lunch here," Ryoga said and pointed to a nearby restaurant, "we've been walking around too long, and it's not good for your health, Li-chan."

Lina nodded, she _was_ starting to feel fatigued.

They took a seat outside the restaurant, shielded from the sun by an umbrella.

* * *

><p>Mukahi Gakuto turned a corner and saw something he was definitely curious about.<p>

It was Echizen Lina, Atobe's 'friend', with a guy! And Mukahi was pretty sure they were on a date.

He took out his phone and called his captain.

"Atobe," Mukahi said as he started to walk once again, "I just thought you'd want to know that I saw Echizen Lina."

"And this is my concern… why?" Atobe drawled on the other end of the line.

"Looked to me like she was on a date," Mukahi shrugged.

"With who?" The captain asked and Mukahi thought he could hear a bit of irritation in his voice.

"Didn't care enough to know," Mukahi shrugged, after a "see ya, Atobe," he hung up and smirked.

That should keep Atobe busy for a while.

* * *

><p>"Your wrist isn't getting any better, is it?" Lina asked as she observed the young girl across from her.<p>

They were alone in the table at the moment, because Ryoga had gone to the washroom.

Naomi looked up, stunned.

"Not yet," Naomi said shaking her head, she stopped and looked at Lina, "are you able to play tennis yet?"

"In a couple more weeks I'll be able to," she replied, flexing her hand.

"Are you afraid?" Naomi asked.

It was Lina's turn to be stunned.

"Of what?"

"Of returning to tennis," the girl answered.

Lina was silent for a while. What if she wasn't able to return to tennis as good as she used to be? Or worse, what if she couldn't get stronger anymore?

Ryoga returned, and if he took note of the fact that Lina became unusually quiet, he didn't say anything about it.

They finished their lunch in relative silence, and after a while, it was time for Naomi to leave.

"Wait, Tyler!" Lina called out when Naomi was a few yards away.

"Yes?" Naomi said, turning.

"Where do you go to school?"

"Hyotei Academy," she answered.

* * *

><p>"What if I'm not as good as I used to be?" She asked Ryoga as they walked home, stopping.<p>

Ryoga looked back, surprised. He was about to make a humorous, snide remark, but he closed his mouth when he saw her face and posture.

She was genuinely terrified.

He said nothing and simply hugged her, because he knew that anything he'd say would be completely, utterly useless in comforting her.

"I mean, what's the meaning of playing tennis again if I can't be as good as I was? Or get stronger than I used to be?"

"Lina," he said, letting go of her, and, keeping one arm around her, he urged her to continue walking, "you'll be fine. Do you have such little faith in yourself?"

She scoffed at him and then smiled.

They walked back in comfortable silence.

Before they entered the house, however, he smiled at her and ruffled her hair.

She looked up at him, surprised.

"Happy birthday, Li-chan."

* * *

><p>"Are you really leaving?"<p>

Tezuka looked away from the tennis court, turned his attention to the side and saw Lina standing there, having just arrived in the classroom.

"I heard from Oishi-san this morning," she continued, placing her bag down and standing at the side of his table.

"Yes," he answered.

After a few moments, she smiled.

"I'm glad then."

He didn't let his surprise show.

"If you had an injury keeping you back from playing tennis," she said as she sat down on her seat, not looking away from him, "it's not as fun as it should be," she started to prepare her things for class, "besides, you can't go to Nationals with something holding you back."

"Lina-san," he said after a few moments, "please take care of the team while I'm gone."

She looked at him, surprised that he'd even have to ask, "of course I will, I'm the manager, right?"

"Thank you," Tezuka said sincerely, "for the dedication you show the team."

She felt her cheeks turn red and smiled at the appreciation, "I just really love tennis, Tezuka-san."

* * *

><p>During afternoon practice, there was an odd tension in the air as news spread that the captain was leaving for rehabilitation. However, while there was tension, nobody dared disrupt or stop the practices.<p>

Except, of course, for Atobe Keigo.

The tennis team all looked to the gate, where there was a loud drumming, coming closer and closer.

Then suddenly, a marching band came into view, and some whole load of the craziest shit that Lina had ever seen. And between the outrageous tennis moves and the absurd situations she'd ever found herself in, she'd seen a lot of crazy shit. Among the odd party were fire eaters, jugglers, cheerleaders, Hawaiian dancers, and some people that she was sure worked in a circus.

Or maybe they all worked in his amusement park.

Suddenly, between the abnormally tall fire eater and the scary looking clown, Atobe appeared, wearing an unusually colorful fur coat and sitting on a luxurious chair, carried by six people. Behind him were two people holding up the stands of a banner, printed on it was 'Happy Birthday, Echizen Lina'.

The party stopped advancing, but they kept doing what they were doing, once they had reached the front of the school building.

Lina looked at them, her jaw open.

She could only watch as Atobe stepped down from the chair and came closer, with two people carrying a huge, beautifully wrapped box behind him.

"Happy birthday," he said, stopping in front of her, oblivious to all the stares of the people.

She stared at him for a while, and when she had finally collected herself, she picked up the cardboard cone she was using to make her voice louder and shouted for the tennis team to continue practicing. When she had glared enough for all of them to finally look away, she turned to Atobe.

"You are an extremely flashy guy," she said.

"It's your birthday," he said, "it's supposed to be special, right?" Of course, he left out the embarrassing part that he actually looked it up on Yahoo, because Google had seriously messed up last time.

"My birthday was yesterday," she said, folding her arms over her chest.

"No, technically, it's today, at least in America it is," he smirked, "we're one day ahead."

Whoa, she hadn't thought about that. She was never really the type to celebrate her birthday so grandly. A simple family dinner was alright with her, which was what they had had yesterday.

"And what have you done?" She said, raising her eyebrow at the party he had brought.

"I brought you some great cuisines, because it's your birthday celebration, I also brought entertainment" he motioned to the people behind him, "and some gifts."

She shook her head and sighed. He was definitely not going to leave anytime soon.

"The food would be fine," she said, because she definitely did not want good food to go to waste, "but the entertainers are not. They're distracting my players."

Atobe called one of the people in the party forward, and whispered something to the man's ear. After a while, the whole party was gone, the front of the school building clear, and Atobe was the only one left of the outsiders. There was a long table at the side of the court, with several covered metal containers placed upon it with utensils at the side.

"Tezuka-san would kill you if he was here right now," Lina said, "you're lucky he went home early today."

"He's leaving for rehabilitation, right?" Atobe replied, standing next to her as they watched the practices.

"I admire your system of information gathering," she smiled, amused.

"Thank you," he replied.

"Hold on," she said, leaving him alone to talk to Coach Ryuzaki. After a moment, she raised the cone to her lips, "after practice, you guys can eat the food at the side of the court!"

The players actually cheered, much to Atobe's amusement.

When she came back to his side, he pushed the huge, wrapped box to her with his leg.

"What's in this?" She said, looking down at the box curiously.

"Open it," he said.

She managed to tear off the wrapper and crumpled it, tossing it beside the box. She opened it and found, among the Styrofoam, tennis equipment.

"I thought you might need it," he said when she had taken out a green racquet from the box, "for when you start playing again."

She smiled and looked through the box, finding several very useful things inside, like weights, racquets, balls and a tennis bag.

Lina looked up at Atobe, grinning, and said, "thank you."

He looked away, surprised at her reaction. He was expecting more of a resistance from her, or something a little less… adorable.

"Happy birthday, senpai!" Momoshiro said, placing an arm around Lina, "trying to keep your birthday a secret, eh?"

"Yeah, Lina-chan, happy birthday!" Eiji said, after a moment his expression changed into a look of hurt, "why didn't you tell us? Don't you like us?"

"No," Lina replied, "it was actually yesterday, but technically it would be today where I was actually born."

Ryoma walked past them and, after glaring up at Atobe, he headed for the food table. As expected, this action triggered the other tennis team members to flock to the food table, greeting Lina as they rushed past her and Atobe.

"Aren't you going to get any?" He asked, looking at her as she watched the tennis team, obviously amused.

"I have to watch my food intake for at least two weeks after the surgery," she said, "I can only eat things okaa-san cooks."

The corner of Atobe's mouth twitched. So he had actually brought food for the Seigaku tennis team?

"You know, Echizen," he said, leaning back on the metal border of the tennis court, facing her, "I still have eight commands left."

"You're still going on about that?" She said, raising her eyebrow at him.

"A deal's a deal," he shrugged, smirking at her.

"So, what do you want me to do, then?"

"Nothing as of now," he said, "just reminding you."

She rolled her eyes at him and turned to go to her tennis team. Halfway there, she looked back and smiled at him, "thank you very much, Atobe. For this very odd, and yet entertaining surprise, and for the gifts."

"We're friends, right?" He said, smiling.

Though he said this, he knew he needed to start ignoring the odd feelings he was starting to feel. Some very odd feelings that he wasn't quite sure made him happy.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>So, what do you guys think? Sorry if some parts seem like it's useless and all that, but they will matter later... I think. Anyways, please leave a review, it is very much appreciated and will definitely make me very happy =) And a happy writer updates faster!


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note: **SO here is the 14th chapter! Not much action here, though, but whatever. Anyways, thanks to those who reviewed, and placed this story in their favourites list and/or alerts list.

**ShamelesslyUsed: **LOL. I squealed as well when I was writing that scene. And yes, Atobe could definitely work for a circus or something.

**OROgoldenpair1: **Wow, your reviews surprised me =) Thank you for all of them! Anyways, yeah, I think Atobe's OOC in this, but that's the whole point of falling in love, right? He's not really supposed to be in the right mind anyway, but I will try very hard to keep him in character, though that will be sort of hard. I'm trying to follow the anime and manga, but then there are differences in them, and I don't quite know what do then =( Help?

**Ciel Blanche: **Haha =) Atobe definitely does, and Lina is starting to get used to him already. I like Tamaki! He's awesome! Anyways, I'm very excited to write the resolution of the Echizen siblings' drama.

**Xana Vlec:** Well, let's learn together! *bro fist* Anyways, I want to play ninja! TT-TT But I'm apparently way too slow for that kind of thing =((

**JayTheCow: **Definitely noted! Though, I do think I might be a bit slow in the writing of the romance stuff =(

ENJOY!

* * *

><p>"Nee-san! Nee-san!"<p>

Lina opened her eyes. Someone was banging on her door.

She yawned as she sat up, glaring at the door.

"What?" She growled as she opened the door.

Ryoma stared at her, surprised.

Her glare changed into a look of surprise, "well you're ready early," he was already wearing his school uniform, his bag over his shoulder and his tennis bag over the other.

Ryoma said nothing and looked at the circular clock on her wall. She looked at it as well.

Oh, shit.

She turned to him slowly, squinting her eyes, "I hate you."

He simply watched as she rushed around the room, trying to get ready.

"You go ahead, Ryoma," she said as she grabbed the uniform from her closet, "I'll just get Ryoga-nii to go with me."

"I think he's still sleeping," Ryoma said quietly, glancing to the room down the hall, across his own.

"Well, I'll wake him up," she said as shooing him away. It was the rule after her surgery, she was not to go out of the house alone until she was full recovered.

He shrugged and went on his way.

She got prepared as quickly as she could, although she still wasn't as fast as she'd like. When she was finally ready, she went over to her older brother's room, after knocking and receiving no reply, she turned the knob and poked her head in.

He was _still_ sleeping.

She looked away from his sleeping form and turned her attention to her wrist watch. If she didn't leave now, she'd definitely be late for morning practice, especially with her pacing.

It only took her a moment to decide.

She stepped down the stairs slowly and as quietly as possible, moving to the door. She sighed as she left the house unnoticed.

Walking as fast as she could in her condition, she headed for the school.

"Senpai!" Someone called out moments after she turned a corner.

She looked to back and saw Momoshiro riding his bike, heading towards her.

"Good morning, Momoshiro-kun," she greeted with a smile, "thank Kami you're here!"

"Why is that, senpai?" He said as he stopped next to her, getting off his bike.

"I'm not supposed to be walking alone," she said, "you know, after the surgery and all that."

They walked side by side, Momoshiro wheeling the bike along at his unoccupied side.

"Echizen left you?" He said, surprised. Well, not entirely.

"Nah," she replied, shaking her head, "I let him go first since I woke up pretty late."

"Tired from last night?" He asked, lifting his eyebrow at her.

"Yeah," she said, laughing, "too much excitement for one day."

"But, man!" Momoshiro exclaimed, "the captain of Hyotei is a _really_ flashy guy."

"You win the Understatement of the Year Award! That guy is beyond flashy."

"Oh, really? I can't tell," he replied sarcastically, making her laugh.

They walked in comfortable silence for a few moments.

"How's training?" She asked Momoshiro when she noticed the weights on his ankles and wrists

"Well, your training menu is bearable," he replied, "nearly the same as Inui's."

"That's good, Momoshiro-kun," after a sigh, she continued, "we can't afford to lose right now."

"Yeah, now that buchou is gone…" he looked up and sighed as he trailed off.

"And Oishi-san isn't registered," she said, "we don't have any reserves. Seigaku has to have clear cut wins. We can't afford any match loss or draws."

"Yeah, everyone's going to be working hard."

"I'll make sure of that," Lina grinned.

Momoshiro mentally cringed.

They walked for a few more minutes, until they were in front of the school. It was fairly early, but they could already hear the sounds of tennis balls bouncing and the shouts of the players.

"Seems like a lively practice," Momoshiro said as they neared the courts, "right, senpai…?"

He looked to the side and saw Lina standing very still, looking at him with worried and terrified eyes. She lifted her hands so she could see them, and he could tell that they were shaking. He also noticed that her knees seemed wobbly as well. She tried to walk, but he steps were short and weak.

"Senpai?" He asked worried.

She swallowed before answering, her voice cracking "take me to the hospital."

And she collapsed.

* * *

><p>"Simple exhaustion," the doctor said and Lina sighed in so much relief, "you've been exerting too much effort or you're too stressed. After surgery, you are not to do much work, and you are not to be stressed."<p>

She lay on a bed in the emergency room, where she was immediately brought to after her collapse. Her mother sat by her side.

"What do I have to do?"

"Well, since your mother tells me that you insist on going to school," the doctor said, removing his glasses and putting the clipboard down, "you're going to have to go via a wheelchair."

Her mouth hung open and her eyes opened wider.

"Only for a week or so," he continued, unfazed. He probably had to deal with this shit all the time, "you can only go on thirty minutes walk, including the time that you're actually on your feet, _each_ day and keep your activities to an absolute minimum."

She opened her mouth to say something, but he stopped her.

"And I do mean absolute minimum, Echizen-san. No shouting, no strenuous exercises, no carrying of things. Absolute minimum."

After a few words with Rinko, the doctor left.

"I can't go to school on a wheelchair," Lina said obstinately, glaring at the direction in which the doctor left.

"Then you're going to have to stay at home."

"But it's boring at home! There's absolutely nothing to do. Besides, who's going to wheel me around? Ryoma? He'd probably use my chair trying to wheel down the stairs."

"Ryoga will."

* * *

><p>"I really cannot believe that you are doing this," Lina said through clenched teeth as she was wheeled into the gates of Seishun Academy.<p>

"Okaa-san's orders," Ryoga shrugged, "besides, I don't really have anything to do right now."

"Lazy bum," she murmured. She straightened when she saw that the courts were filled up already, "over there," she pointed to the courts, where her brother promptly brought her to.

Ryoma was already there, having decided to just walk that morning, instead of riding the car with Lina and Ryoga.

Her older brother had been tasked to be the one to care for her, much to her annoyance. He didn't have classes at this point – because he was an advanced student and all that – so, apparently, what better else to do than take care of one's own sister?

"Coach!" Arai called out as he approached them, "what happened to you?"

"I'm old," she said, not in the mood to talk at that point.

She did not like being pampered or taken care of. She took care of herself.

"Tell everyone to assemble," she instructed Arai, who had somehow become her second-in-command through the weeks, "and then after that, ten laps around the court to warm up."

"Yes," the boy nodded and headed to the courts to inform the non-regulars.

"Strict, aren't we?" Ryoga smirked as he wheeled her closer.

"You," she looked up at him, her eyebrows furrowed, "take a seat on the benches, I'll walk."

"I'm timing you," he said as he let go of the handles of the wheelchair and started the stop watch as she stood.

She stood and entered the courts, where the non-regulars were already assembled.

She motioned for Arai to come near her and told him, "if you don't mind, please shout what I'm about to say," when Arai nodded, she told him.

Arai nodded and proceeded to shout out what she had told him, "there will be a skills assessment this afternoon, and those who pass this test will be getting another set of training menus. Those who don't…" he hesitated, "well… those who don't have to drink Inui-senpai's Veggie Juice."

She said something in his ear.

"The Super, Royale, Deluxe Veggie Juice."

All non-regulars cringed and became serious.

They needed to pass the test.

Arai looked back and saw Lina nod, signaling the start of the warm up.

Lina immediately headed for the regulars' courts, intending to do her job of managing the team.

"You have twenty five minutes left," Ryoga shouted from his position on the bench.

She glared at him and decided to take the wheelchair with her to the regulars' courts, leaving it right outside of the court.

"What's happening?" She said as she saw them gather around.

"Oishi-senpai's trying to do some weird personality test," Momoshiro said.

Lina looked at the papers Oishi was holding.

"Is that a talking jellyfish?" She asked, tilting her head to better understand the picture, to no avail.

Oishi wrote something down on his notebook, mumbling, "Lina-san is a type C personality."

Lina opened her mouth to say something but then she saw Ryoma shaking his head.

"Well, anyways," she stood next to Oishi and said, "I'd like to think that Oishi-san is trying to come up with a line up for the next set of matches, but it seems really weird, so, let's just try a different approach."

She looked around, thinking.

"Everyone, pair up," Lina said.

It was Inui-Kaidou, Momoshiro-Kawamura, and Eiji-Fuji.

"I don't play doubles," Ryoma said, pulling his cap down.

"True," she sighed, "you can't play doubles to save your life."

Lina spoke with Oishi, moving a couple of yards away.

"I suggest that they go against each other," Lina said, "Inui against Kaidou, Momoshiro against Kawamura and Eiji against Fuji, then shuffle later on, with Ryoma this time."

Oishi seemed to think about it.

"But how will that help the line ups?"

"To see if they know the other's weakness, it'll help them cooperate with each other," she shrugged, "we're definitely going to have an Inui-Kaidou pair, but Inui-san could also go for singles matches, which would leave Kaidou-san without a partner, and I'm not entirely sure if he should be in the singles just yet. Fuji-san could be a doubles player, but he's an asset as a singles player," she paused for a moment, thinking, "Eiji-san is definitely a doubles kind of guy, but since you're not registered, he's left without a partner, and I'm not quite sure that Momoshiro-kun'd be alright as his partner. As for Ryoma… He's a purely singles player, he won't be able to play doubles."

Oishi thought about her inputs.

"The decision, however, is still up to you, Oishi-san," Lina said.

"As the manager of the team, Lina-san, your opinion really matters on these sort of things," he replied, "I must think about it."

Lina nodded, and after talking to Ryuzaki-sensei, she went back to her wheelchair and observed the proceedings from there.

When there was a chiming coming from the building, Ryoga went back to her and started to head for the school.

"How do you suggest I go up the stairs?" Lina asked, genuinely curious, "because I am definitely not wasting my daily time on my feet by walking up or down the stairs."

Ryoga smirked, and said, "simple. Chibisuke!"

* * *

><p>Lina stared at all the people who dared to stare at her as Ryoga carried her up the stairs, towards her classroom. Ryoma was behind them, carrying the wheelchair.<p>

Being the true Echizens that they were, they all took the stares in stride, unfazed by all the attention. Well, at least Ryoma and Ryoga were. Lina, on the other hand, tried not to let her embarrassment show as they wheeled her down the hall, towards her classroom. She raised her eyebrow at the girls who stared at Ryoga, and blushed.

When she entered her classroom, all talk in the room ceased, and everyone looked at them.

Kami, she wished Tezuka was here.

Two of her classmates approached her when she was already in her seat, the wheelchair folded at the back and Ryoga next to her, in Tezuka's empty seat. Conversation returned, which made Lina slightly more comfortable. The girl had short dark brown hair, and eyes, while the boy had black hair with green eyes.

"Echizen-san," one of them said, a girl she remembered as Akino Mina, "you've been missing some lessons."

"And we volunteered to help you," the other said, a boy Lina was pretty sure was named Sono Saeki, "so that you can catch up and all."

"Alright," Lina nodded, though on the inside she was apprehensive, "I'm alright with some lessons already, Tezuka-san helped me while I was out."

The girl seemed surprised, "Tezuka-san did?"

"Yes," Lina replied, leaning back.

They seemed intrigued, but didn't ask. They helped her with her lessons, which were alright enough to understand. The teacher arrived, and looked at Ryoga curiously.

He stood up – of course, everyone stared at him – and made his way to the front of the class, carrying a letter. It was the letter their mother had drafted and gave to Ryoga to show the teachers, although Lina didn't really see the need for it when their mother had already called the school the previous day.

When the lessons had started, it was pretty easy to ignore Ryoga, since he didn't seem to be doing anything. He had taken up the bored position, his arms folded over the table and his head rested on them. By break time, he was already asleep.

"Ryoga-nii," she said poking his cheek with her pencil, trying to wake him up.

"Your brother's very nice to be taking care of you like this," Akino said as she took the empty seat across Lina.

"Not nearly as nice as you think," she replied, "he's just doing this to annoy me."

Akino smiled, "I heard you play tennis?"

"Yes," Lina nodded, smiling as she remembered why exactly she was doing all this, turning to Ryoga, "all of us do."

"I play, too," the girl said and Lina looked back at her, surprised, "well, not as well as the boys' tennis team."

"So you're in the girls' tennis team?" Lina asked, now slightly intrigued.

Akino nodded and Lina made a mental note to go and watch the girls' tennis team play.

When Ryoga had woke up, it was already after break and he was forced to endure another two hours of lessons before it was lunch already.

"God, this is so boring," Ryoga groaned as the bell rang, signaling that it was lunch time.

"Well, okaa-san's orders, right?" Lina beamed smugly at him.

Ryoga groaned, and proceeded to eat the lunch he had in the backpack he brought with him, handing Lina hers.

"So, how do you plan to get back to shape?" Ryoga said as he ate, using a spoon and fork instead of the usual chopsticks.

"Well," Lina replied, "the doctor says that there's this great place for physical therapy out of town. I'm planning to stay there, after the Kantou Tournament, during summer vacation."

Ryoma tensed at the mention of summer vacation, but Lina didn't comment on it.

"Have you played with otou-san lately?" She asked, trying to keep the non-awkward atmosphere.

"Yeah," Ryoga said and smirked, "he's still the same as ever."

Lina smiled.

Ryoga looked to the tennis court, and his face became unreadable.

"Lina," he said, "I'll play against your trainees later, okay?"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> So, can you guess what's coming up? =) Anyways! I am in a dilemma, my readers! I can't think of what to follow. The anime or manga? Because in the anime, Ryoma leaves after the Kantou Tournament - after the whole cruise ship thing with Ryoga. But in the manga, he stays the whole year. I can't think of what to do! But I will definitely include the cruise ship arc =)

Oh, and I am very sorry for the Atobe-less chapter TT-TT I just thought that I'd want to focus on Lina and Ryoga's relationship for a chapter =)

Review, please!


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the late update, guys! Things just started to pile up and I got busy. Anyways, thanks for those who reviewed and placed this story on their alrets and/or favourites lists. I am absolutely honored.

**Xana Vlec:** Thank you sooooooo much! Anyways, really? Wow, your dad seems awesome! But, man, physical therapy sucks, I had to go for a while, and I have to say, the only pleasant thing there is in physical therapy are the massages.

**Ciel Blanche:** Manga it is then =) I read the manga more than I actually watched the anime, and I feel a lot more confident there =) Anyways, I'm happy that this story serves as your stress reducer! Gosh, Chemistry is hard and I feel your pain TT-TT AND ulcers suck!

**OROgoldenpair1: **But Mulan is awesome! Anyways, I don't really want to focus too much on the romance or anything like that, I don't necessarily want it to drive the story, it's more on Lina's development and the relationship she has with the different PoT characters.

**ShamelesslyUsed:** I used to have a deeeeeeeep hatred for Arai, too. But then, after seeing him work so hard because he really wants to be a regular just melted my heart. I know! Have you read/watched that episode? Where Oishi tries to do a personality test on the regulars? That was just weird!

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Echizen Lina could do nothing but keep her eyes glued to the match happening in front of her.<p>

Kami, when had Ryoga gotten this brutally good?

She bit her lip to keep it from hanging. She felt a lot like she wanted to cry, because her brother was so much better and it made her realize that all the months lost because of her condition could have been used to train and train and train.

It wasn't fair.

"Ryoga-nii!" She called from the side to stop the very much one-sided match. She motioned for him to come over.

"Hmm?"

"Ryoga-nii, do you want to totally crush the hopes and dreams of my trainees?"

He shrugged.

"Then stop what you're doing," she looked at him pointedly, "be nice and let them return the shots." She looked at Nagayama, who was breathing heavily.

"So I'm going to let them score against me?" He replied, horrified.

"No," she replied, "just do returnable shots. It doesn't mean that you don't have to return them."

He nodded and went back to the court, restarting the match.

Lina sat silently on her wheelchair, taking down notes as she watched.

By the end of the skills assessment, she was pretty sure all of her trainees passed, some with flying colors – mainly her four special trainees – and others just barely passing. She wasn't _that_ bad a coach, was she?

She, of course, did note one thing. No one scored a single point against Ryoga during the matches portion. Well, no one except for Arai, who had used the Arrow Serve, but that was just about once or thrice during the match.

"That Arai kid," Ryoga commented as he took his place beside her, "he's good. I can see why you're training him. Those other kids, too, the ones using weighted racquets. They've got potential."

"I know," she said quietly, looking through her notes.

"Though, I am surprised that you'd teach him the Arrow Serve."

She looked up at him, "it's my serve to teach, Ryoga-nii, and I think it's beneficial for him to use."

He held his hands up in surrender.

"I'm actually surprised that he's already mastered it," she said, looking back down at her notes, "it took me a while."

"You were ten," he shrugged, "it's understandable."

She sighed as she closed her notebook, and pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling dizzy.

"Are you alright, Li-chan?" He inquired, crouching in front of her, worried.

"Just a minor headache," she said, "nothing to worry about."

"I'll go get you water, okay?" He stood and turned, "maybe you're dehydrated. The heat around here is crazy."

She sighed as she closed her eyes, leaning back on her wheelchair. The heat really was crazy.

There was a sound of slushing near her and she turned her face towards it, opening her eyes.

Ryoma was handing her a water bottle.

She took it and drank the water with much fervor. Kami, she didn't know that she was _that_ thirsty.

"You should stay in the shade," he said as he walked away, resting his racquet on his shoulder.

Lina smiled.

Ryoga came back moments later, water bottles in hand.

"Here," he sad as he handed one to her, "drink up."

She did as he said. He wheeled her to an area shaded by a tree, where she was still able to see what was happening in the tennis courts.

"When are you getting your stitches removed?" He asked as he sat on the bench beside her.

"This Sunday," she replied, taking another gulp of water, after swallowing, she gave a triumphant smile, "I'm heading to the hospital first thing in the morning to get them off."

"Okaa-san going with you?"

"No, she has work."

"Then I'm going to go with you."

"You don't need to."

"I want to."

"I don't."

Silence fell on the two as they both looked away from each other.

Ryoga sighed and looked up.

"Can we just talk about it?"

"No," she answered quietly.

"Why not?"

She snapped her head towards him, and replied angrily, "because there's nothing to talk about anymore. You left us. Simple as that." She clenched her jaw to prevent her from saying anything more damaging.

"Is there any other reason why you're so angry?"

She looked at him, she might as well get it off her chest.

"I got sick and you weren't there."

A vibrating sound in her bag interrupted them and she took the phone out of her bag, placing it to her ear.

"I take it you are so engrossed in whatever it is you're doing that you've completely forgotten to thank me for the gift I've generously given you," the voice on the other side drawled.

"I already have."

"No, you have not."

The line went dead and Lina looked at it with disbelief.

"That guy is really…" she trailed off, stuffing the phone back into the bag

She saw Ryoma approach them, having already changed back into his uniform, ready to leave. She glanced at her other brother and saw that he had a stoic expression plastered on his face. Upon seeing their youngest sibling, he stood up and wheeled her to the gate, where they waited for their mother's arrival.

Though there were still mundane sounds around them, heard only because of their location, Lina felt as if it was the most deafening silence she had ever experienced.

* * *

><p>Lina glared at the purple box on her study table, as if the very thing itself held the Black Plague in its confines – in all likelihood, it actually could.<p>

What was it? Only Kami knew. And Atobe.

She had emptied the contents of her newly acquired tennis bag onto her bed, looking for whatever it was Atobe insists that he had gotten her. Amidst the tennis balls, racquets and weights, there it was. A purple, cube box, only slightly bigger than her fist. The ribbon was crushed, the box dented and the wrapping slightly torn. Yet, whatever it was inside still seemed to be intact.

She cringed at the thought of what would be inside.

With Atobe's half crazy mind, and with the other half struggling to maintain sanity, she thought until her head ached, wondering what would be inside the small, seemingly harmless box.

She lifted both her hands, as if weighing something. Lifting one hand, "open it," lowering it and lifting the other, "not open it." She continued for a few more moments.

"Ah!" She exclaimed as she thought of something.

Lifting the box carefully with one hand, lest it hold a possible bomb – because she was pretty sure Atobe secretly detested her – she made her way to Ryoma's room. She stood in front of his television, blocking his view of the game he was playing.

He glared up at her.

"Open it," she said, placing the box on the floor, and gently pushing it towards him.

He said nothing, and after a few moments – most of which were spent glaring at her – he opened the box.

A moment or two passed in silence before she looked, very carefully and very slowly, inside.

It was a wrist watch.

"Oh, thank Kami it's something normal!" She sighed in relief.

Grabbing the box back, after hugging her brother for saving her from what she had presumed to be a bomb, she walked out the door and back to her room.

She tore off the rest of the two layer wrapping and took the clear plastic casing out, setting it on her desk, examining the wrist watch inside. It was elegant silver, made completely of metal. The face had dots instead of numbers, except for twelve, it was surrounded by crystals – or maybe diamonds? – which were clear and colorless. The time had already been set.

Seeing the brand, her eyes widened and she pushed the box out of her reach.

It was shit ass expensive.

She dared not actually _wear_ it.

* * *

><p>"I can't wait until Tezuka-san comes back," Lina sighs as they win the set of matches against Rokkaku.<p>

It was tricky to say the least, and every time the score was even or against their favor, panic washed over her, her hand itching for the phone to call the captain to come back, even though he wouldn't have made it.

She was sitting at the side of the court, alongside the Seigaku non-regulars, cheering for their team – though she couldn't really shout. On her other side was Ryoga, looking bored as he usually was for the past couple of days, though he did look content.

As the place began to clear, she stands.

"We're in the finals," she smiles, disbelieving her own words.

Having already gone for her thirty minute walk, Ryoga tells Lina to sit on the wheelchair as they prepare to go back home. With a sigh, she leans back, tired, but not tired enough to fall asleep.

She doesn't feel as ashamed as when she had first started using a wheelchair, now feeling somewhat privileged to sit down and just rest whenever she wanted, though she did feel a bit of an annoyance at the restrictions of her body.

"That was a great game, you guys," she compliments as the Seigaku team prepare to leave.

They smile at her, thanking her in their own words.

A little while later, they head towards home, at first going in the same direction, until all that's left are the siblings, Momoshiro and Fuji. It was an odd feeling, being wheeled around the place, though odd, it was comfortable.

"Lina-senpai." Momoshiro looks sidewards at her. "Are you going for another Grand Slam once you're healed?"

She shrugs. "It depends, I guess."

"On what?" Fuji asks, though not necessarily for curiosity,

"On whether or not I can get back to shape," she says, though one of her greatest fears, she feels at ease telling them. It was probably the weather.

They were silent for a moment, and she notes that it is not an uncomfortable one.

"So, Rikkai Dai Fuzoku next week, huh?" She says nonchalantly, confident of their abilities. "Aren't they the champions?"

"Yes," Fuji nods, "they've won Nationals for two consecutive years."

"I hope you guys are going to be fine." She inhales deeply, enjoying the feeling of her lungs expanding.

They enjoy about an hour of talking as they walk towards their homes, and eventually they separate.

The next day, after she gets her stitches removed with Ryoga and Ryoma accompanying her, they decide to eat out, though Lina quickly notices that Ryoga was very much distracted and agitated.

She didn't bother to ask why, but she knew she should've.

* * *

><p>"I'll be back in two weeks, okay?" She says, ruffling his hair, "besides, Kanagawa isn't that far, you could always visit."<p>

Ryoma looks away, not knowing why she seemed to think he cared.

"Take care of things here, Ryoga-nii." She hugs her older brother, and though things were still not right between them, it was a cordial goodbye.

Placing her bags inside, she waves at them and finally slid into the car that was waiting for her.

The ride was tolerable, and she didn't mind it at all, because she was asleep for the better part of the journey anyway. When they get there, her mother stays for a while, making sure she was alright and well cared for.

When Rinko finally left, Lina goes to see the doctor who was in charge of her.

"Well, it seems everything is going well with you," he says, looking through her file. "Just a bit of physical therapy and you should be able to play sports again."

"Will two weeks be enough?" She asks him with worried expression.

"Absolutely," he says, closing the folder. "Although, your schedule will be heavy in the mornings. The afternoons will be times for you to rest, or continue. But if you start to feel any discomfort, you must tell me immediately, Echizen-san."

She nods happily, one step closer to her recovery.

They start her off immediately, and she notices the other patient with her in the room. There aren't many of them, really.

He's in between two railings, trying to walk. She's on the treadmill, trying to lengthen her limit.

She watches him for a while.

He's tall, around her age. He looked like he had a delicate constitution, which was probably why he was here in the first place. Through his grunts of pain and his pants of exhaustion, she recognizes his determination. She can relate, so she keeps watching him.

The nurses try to stop him, but he doesn't heed their warnings, determined to finish the task he set out to do.

She continues on the treadmill, but her eyes are on him.

The nurses leave them for a while.

When his hands slip, probably from the sweat, he falls to the ground.

He doesn't get up for a moment, and she's worried. She stops the treadmill and goes to him, leaning on one of the rails.

"Are you alright?" She asks, trying to keep her voice calm.

She wouldn't help him, by the looks of it, his pride was delicate, and he wouldn't appreciate it.

"Yes," he says in between breaths, pushing himself up, supporting himself with the railing, though he slips again.

She offers him her hand to help, and he, thankfully, accepts it. Grabbing his other hand, she helps him up. She wipes the railing with the face towel on her shoulder and sets his hand there.

Once she's sure he won't slip again, she goes back to her treadmill, which wasn't very far.

"What's your name?" He asks her, and she's thankful that he's polite.

"Echizen Lina," she replies as she starts to walk again, she smiles at him. "You?"

He smiles back. "Yukimura Seiichi."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Yeah! Yukimura in dah house! So, what shall happen now? =D Reviews please!


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note:** Here it is, you guys! So, once again, I thank all who have placed this story in their favorites and/or alerts list =) And to those who review, ask my friends, you make my day =)

**ShamelesslyUsed: **Yukimura is soooo adorable! QAQ Well, there probably will, but with Yukimura's we'll-definitely-beat-you attitude we'll not really know.

**Xana Vlec:** How'd that happen? QAQ Yukimura deserves all the love =3

**Inferno Caeli:** We'll see...?

**IfLooksCouldKill13: **Thank you! I've always liked Yukimura, and I just thought that he should definitely be here and be part of Lina's journey to recovery and full healing.

**Ciel Blanche: **We'll see, we'll see =3

**OROgoldenpair1:** I think that as a person, Lina is someone who can sometimes be brand conscious, and she's not the type to really wear accessories or anything. She doesn't like expensive things because she's afraid of losing it, and then all the money goes to waste. Anyway, I will definitely try to do something about the descriptions! Thank you for that! =)

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>On her first day of physical therapy, she uses the treadmill and jogs.<p>

Her breathing is laborious, but she doesn't stop. She can't. Especially not now, when she's so close.

"Lina-san, you should rest," Yukimura observes as he sits down between the two railings, sweat makes his hair cling to the base of his neck. His tone was that of concern, but he does nothing to stop her.

"Not yet," she pants, determined to push her limit.

If she stops now, she knows that tomorrow will not be any different from today. Stopping now would be admitting that playing tennis again is impossible. And that was something she would never, ever do.

She lets out a small laugh as she surpasses her time limit.

Though her limit has been surpassed, she keeps at it until she falls to the ground, her legs numb.

It's hard to breathe, and she can feel her chest muscles contract, trying to bring in as much air as it could. She stands up, because she knows that breathing is harder when slouched on the floor. She tries to keep her back straight as she leans on to the railing of the treadmill.

Bearing the pain she feels in her lungs – and notes that it is _not_ in her heart – she looks up and smiles.

A small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

* * *

><p>Lina feels the strength returning to her muscles as each day passes, and she's pretty sure that she'll be able to return to tennis by the time she goes home from Kanagawa.<p>

She looks up and sees the only other patient she knows and smiles up at him, waving.

He gives her a small smile she barely sees, and then snaps his head to the room, and says something to someone she can't see.

She goes back to the exercises she's supposed to do. Today, she's outside in the gardens, and not in the physical therapy room, where she had usually been for the past three days.

Something in her pocket vibrates and she answers the small device.

"How's physical therapy?" Atobe says on the other end, most likely bored.

"It's fun," she replies honestly. "Met new people, found a couple of friends."

"I see," he says this in an intriguing tone, and she wonders why.

"How's summer vacation?"

"Lovely."

"That's great!" She walks around the garden, so at least she'd not be idle.

"When will you get back to Tokyo?"

"Week after next."

"I'll see you then. Goodbye."

She looks at the phone, very much intrigued. He had never said goodbye during his phone calls, and there were a lot of them for the past two weeks, something must have been bothering him. She places the phone back in her pocket and starts to do stretching exercises again.

* * *

><p>Sanada looks out the window and he quickly notes that, at the moment, there is only a girl there. She's talking on the phone while walking around the garden. Her phone call finishes and she looks at the phone for a moment before placing it back in her pocket and walking again.<p>

From the distance, he can see that she's very familiar, though he can't really tell from where or who she resembles. Maybe if he saw her closer.

One of the nurses comes out to get her, and the garden becomes empty.

"What are you looking at?" Yukimura asks, looking out the window as well.

"There was a girl there a while ago," Sanada replies, "she seemed familiar."

"That was Lina-san," the captain replies. He doesn't remember her last name, because she insists that she be called using her first name. "She's here for physical therapy."

The look the other boy gives him is a questioning one.

"Rheumatic heart disease. She just got a surgery to repair her damaged valve."

Turning away from the window, Sanada dismisses the familiar girl from his mind.

* * *

><p>"Yukimura-san," Lina greets, with a wave as she enters the physical therapy room.<p>

He's on the treadmill today, walking slowly. He nods his acknowledgement. They're both wearing the dreary clothes the hospital gives them, the clothes that look like pajamas.

Today, she is going to be doing leg exercises again, because she still can't put too much pressure on her arms, her sternum is still healing. Later on, however, she insisted that she wanted to test her arms.

They don't talk as they do their individual exercises, the physical therapists makes them too busy to talk.

She manages to get through the therapy menu, and she can now exert a little more pressure on her arms than she was able to a while ago. Tomorrow, she's getting her sternum checked.

"How are you feeling?" She asks Yukimura as they head to their respective hospital rooms.

"Fine, thank you," he replies courteously.

"That's good to hear," she smiles.

They talk casually for a while and Lina feels at ease with him.

As he turns a corner to the hallway where his room is located, she sees familiar sets of faces. Her eyebrows shoot up to what she could easily feel was her hairline, and she instinctively kept walking, passing the hallway and out of view.

What is the Rikkaidai Fuzoku tennis team doing here?

* * *

><p>"Do you know where your brothers are? Or, for that matter, the whole Seigaku tennis team?" Atobe asks when he calls her later that day, while she was eating her afternoon meal – a completely healthy, afternoon meal.<p>

"No," she replies as she sips the hot soup from her spoon.

"Are you eating?" He asks, obviously incredulous.

"Yeah," she answered without missing a beat.

"While you're talking on the phone?"

"Yeah." She takes another sip.

"That's rude and unmannered."

"Well, you're the only one I speak to on the phone while I eat, you should feel special," she retorts as she places the spoon down to change the channel on the hospital television.

She can hear the Hyotei Gakuen tennis team captain sigh on the other end of the phone line.

"Anyway," she says, remembering the beginning of the conversation, "why were you asking about Ryoma and Ryoga-nii?"

"They've been invited to a cruise," he replies and Lina could hear the surprise in his voice.

"Oh, really?" She asks, not at all surprised.

"Yes, the Seigaku regulars, at least," he informs her, "didn't they tell you?"

"I've been in Kanagawa for four days, Atobe," she says, "they were told – what? – two or three days ago? Besides, it's not like I really need to know this anyway. I'm the need-to-know kind of manager."

She could practically see the smirk in his face as he replies. "Sure you are."

"But now that you mention it," she continues as if she didn't hear him, "what are they doing there?"

"I'll talk to you some other time," he replies as he ends the conversation, and she can practically feel the satisfaction in his voice.

Lina glares at the phone as she places is down next to her plate.

Atobe is such a douche.

* * *

><p>She goes back to the physical therapy room an hour after her meal, to get in a bit more exercise on the treadmill before the room was locked for the day.<p>

Yukimura is there, again. He's usually there, even after his therapy menu is done.

Lina doesn't bother him, or tell him he should rest. Because isn't she doing the same exact thing he is?

Quietly, she goes to the treadmill beside him and starts it up. She begins with walking, and a couple of minutes later, she's jogging beside Yukimura, who was still walking.

When she slows down to a very slow walk, he looks at her. "Why are you working so hard?"

She throws it back at him strongly, though her breathing was quick. "Why do you?"

"Because I have to play tennis again."

Needless to say, she was surprised by his answer. They had the same reasons. What were the odds?

There is silence as he waits for her to answer. "It's funny how similar our situations are."

She steps off the treadmill and proceeds to do arm and chest stretches, because the muscles in her chest are stiff from not being used for how many weeks already. She lifts both her arms in front of her, then slowly sidewards and then behind her, or at least that is her goal. The muscles are stiffer than she thought.

Yukimura is walking faster already, and she smiles at his progress.

She walks over to one of the two railings and holds on to it. She faces the railings and reaches behind her.

Having expected the pain, she is not fazed. Much.

Slowly, but surely, after a while, she is able to do it.

Yukimura smiles and congratulates her.

Lina thanks him.

By the time both are finished with their individual, self-imposed exercises, the sun is setting and they sit at the steps that lead to the garden.

"So, you're really the captain of the Rikkaidai Fuzoku's tennis team?" She asks a bit awkwardly. It didn't kill a lot of her brain cells to put two and two together.

He, not surprised by her knowledge, nods.

She smiles. "Your team is very good, Yukimura-san."

"I know," he says as he watches the sun set.

They talk for a few more minutes until the nurses call them in.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Lina waves as he turns the corner.

"Tomorrow, then," he smiles and disappears from sight.

* * *

><p>"Your sternum is healing well," the doctor comments as he examines the X-ray. "Pretty fast, too."<p>

She says nothing as he continues to look at the set of X-rays.

He sets it down and looks at her. "Just about a week more and your sternum will be completely healed."

Lina smiles at the news and thanks the doctor before she leaves, heading for physical therapy.

After greeting Yukimura, who always seems to be there before she is, her physical therapist starts her up on her new therapy menu, which now includes arm exercises, since her sternum is practically healed.

"Just do thirty elevated push ups," the physical therapist says.

It's the easier kind of push ups, where she's pushing against an elevated surface. It is harder than she thinks, but, Lina being Lina, doesn't say it. Her arms had definitely gotten weaker.

After a while, it gets hard for her to breathe, and the therapist tells her to stop.

But she's determined to keep going until her arms give out.

When her arms finally do give out, however, she didn't even reach the desired thirty. She'll try again later.

She lays flat on her back to make it easier to breathe.

"Please don't push yourself so hard next time, Echizen-san," the therapist says, "it won't do good to have your muscles sore for the next week."

"I thought that that was the whole reason for physical therapy," she jokes. It comes out awkwardly, though, because she's breathing so hard.

"Alright, get off the floor," her therapist says, "go jog on the treadmill."

She nods, thankful that the therapist somehow understands her. Standing, she heads to the treadmill and starts to jog.

When she reaches her limit – the new one, not the previous one – she pushes herself a little bit farther. Lina knows that if she doesn't push herself now when it matters most, she'll never be able to regain her old strength, and, from there, become stronger.

Her therapist doesn't seem to mind. In fact, she seems to like the fact that her patient is so determined. Makes the work a whole lot easier to do.

That's Lina's routine for the next couple of days in the hospital. Check up, physical therapy with the therapist, break/rest, physical therapy with Yukimura, break/rest, and then talk with Atobe or Yukimura in between.

She notices that Yukimura gets stronger as each day passes, and she's amazed at his determination. She pegs him to be her rival, who she uses as her standard to check on how much she's progressed. For some reason, his presence makes her work harder, pushing herself farther and farther until even she is surprised by her progress.

Every afternoon, in between the physical therapy with supervision, and the one without, he goes to his room to entertain his visitors, his teammates. He invites her to meet them, because, really, what are the odds of finding someone who plays tennis, practically with the same circumstances? But she declines every time, because she doesn't really want to meet the scary vice-captain, or any of his teammates for that matter. Especially not when she looks exactly like her younger brother, who is the one who defeated them. She doesn't tell him _that_ of course.

When visiting hours are over, she finds herself often in the physical therapy room, with him. They talk about usual things, like animals, music, or TV shows they've seen – he's never watched How I Met Your Mother, she's completely scandalized and makes him promise to watch it after he's discharged from the hospital. There are things, however, which they avoid talking about, like school or tennis. She doesn't know why, but she doesn't want him to know where she goes to school.

"Are you ever scared that you won't recover?" She asks him one day. She's using a stressball to check her hand strength, and he's stretching a rubber rope, trying to see how far his arms could go.

"Not really," he answers calmly, beads of sweat form on his forehead due to his pulling his arms apart, the rubber rope in between.

"Why not?"

"I don't know," he shrugs. "I don't see myself as anything else but a tennis player, and I'm determined to reach for that goal. If I'm afraid, the goal gets farther and farther away."

She doesn't understand what he means and simply shrugs.

When the day finally arrives for her to leave, she's able to do strenuous things for a longer amount of time, and there's no pain in her chest anymore.

She waits for her mother at the front of the hospital, and Yukimura is there with her to see her off.

"I'm really happy to have met you, Yukimura-san," she says.

"I feel the same," he says in his gentle, mild mannered way. "I hope we see each other again."

"I'm sure we will." Well, she actually _knew_ for a fact that they would.

As a comfortable silence descends upon them, but it is broken by a call from behind her.

"Captain! What are you doing outside?"

She automatically holds her breath and stops moving. She's apprehensive to look back. By the sound of it, they were still a few meters away.

"Head up to the room," Yukimura says, "I'll be there in a while."

A car stops in front of them, and she mentally sighs in relief as she recognizes that it is her car.

She tosses her bags into the car and she impulsively goes back to hug Yukimura, who seems surprised by the action, and say goodbye. She gets into the car, and they drive away. Somehow, she manages to do all this without facing the Rikkaidai Fuzoku tennis team behind them.

"Who was that boy?" Her mother asks with a grin on her face.

"A friend I made," she replies, feeling her cheeks grow hot.

"Oh, really?" Rinko says with a knowing smile on her face.

Okay, maybe her feelings towards him were more than friendship. But she was sure as hell not going to tell her mother _that_.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Ooooooh, Lina has a crush O/O What shall happen now? Anyways, reviews please! =)


	17. Chapter 17

Okay, some-or all-of you are probably really, really, really mad at me! And, while I am sorry, I couldn't have possibly done anything about it, since I had lost my inspiration. All I can say now is that I will try to update as often as I can now, but don't really expect it...? I can't guarantee a good chapter, and I really don't want to force it because you guys deserve better than that. So all I can say is that I will try to update, and come up with good chapters for you guys!

* * *

><p>"Where are we going, Atobe?" Lina questions as the car goes way faster than she likes, she quickly tugs on her seatbelt and secures it around her.<p>

"Somewhere," Atobe replies absentmindedly and she knows she won't get anymore information from him, besides, she's too busy holding on for dear life to even bother.

Atobe, being the half crazy person that he is, just suddenly showed up at her house a few minutes after her return from Kanagawa, telling her to go with him, at that very moment, with no explanation whatsoever.

And for some moronic reason – it's his eighth command – which she can only attribute to her adventure seeking teenage mind, she goes.

They are along the coastline, and Lina can see a dispersing storm miles off the shores.

What's going on?

The Seigaku Tennis team regulars are now on a rubber boat, and amazingly, they all fit in. They are all feeling lucky, having just escaped a disaster of a cruise with their lives still intact. Next time, they wouldn't be so trusting. Definitely not.

A yacht passes by, and they see the Hyotei Gakuen tennis team captain, and beside him is their manager, Lina.

She has an angry expression on her face and they all gulp – except for Fuji and Tezuka.

"I completely do not understand why you'd go on a cruise that sounds bogus from the start," she scolds, "you all could've gotten seriously hurt."

"It was free…?" Momoshiro offers to try and enlighten her, but it absolutely doesn't work.

Before she scolds them again, however, she notices that the people on the rubber boat are not complete.

"Where is Ryoga-nii?" She asks uneasily, looking at Ryoma.

The sound of a motor and the snatching of Ryoma's cap catch both their attention.

"I'll see you around, you two," Ryoga says as he wears his younger brother's cap sideways. He's riding a personal watercraft (a Jet Ski) and he momentarily stops to look at them.

It takes a moment for Lina to realize what he's saying. A lump automatically forms in her throat, and an invisible force clutches her heart.

"No," she whispers, her voice cracking and her head shaking, "you can't do that."

He comes closer to the boat, and she leans over the side.

"You can't just leave," she says and she feels tears sting her eyes.

He shrugs. "It's something I have to do, Li-chan."

"Why?" She asks, trying desperately hard to keep her emotions under control.

"Now, I can't tell you that," he answers as he affectionately pinches her nose.

Then and there, for some reason, she understands. There were things she just had to do as well.

But he couldn't just leave.

"You just got here," she says as a tear escapes, sliding down her cheek. She doesn't bother to wipe it away.

"I'll come back," he promises, "I'll see you and Chibisuke again, so don't worry."

"When?" She whispers after letting out a deep breath. "When we're old and dying?"

He laughs. "Of course not. When you're stronger."

She starts to feel numb and she can't quite accept that he's leaving, though she understands and still forgives him.

As he drifts away – literally – he gives them the crappiest advice ever. "Go chase your grand dream, you two! I'll see you guys when I'm done chasing the stars."

He leaves.

Lina watches him go until Echizen Ryoga is just a dot on the horizon.

Then, she hugs her knees at a corner and bows her head.

Awkward.

That was the word that would describe the feelings of the Seigaku Tennis team regulars as they sit in the yacht of one of their enemies and head back to dry land.

Atobe, of course, seems distracted with the very descriptive details he is telling the Seigaku regulars about his yacht. Though everyone notices how his eyes always drifts to Lina, who is sitting at a corner having an animated conversation with Momoshiro, who seems very uncomfortable at the moment.

When they reach dry land, the Seigaku Tennis team opts to take the train home, along with Lina.

"Thanks so much, Atobe," she smiles as she holds up her fist and he bumps it with his own. "I'll see you around, then."

When he gets into his own car, he uses the GPS on the phone he gave her to make sure she gets back to Tokyo and her house right away. When he checks again when he himself gets back to Tokyo, he notices that she's moving away from her house, and towards a place they both know.

Sweat covers her skin and her breathing is already quick, but she keeps at it. Because, to her, the sound of the tennis ball hitting the wall and the racquet was always a comforting sound. It was also a comforting thing that she was wearing her green sports suit.

Lina's been there for at least an hour, it's already night time and the street tennis court is illuminated by the moon.

"I don't think you should be here."

She gives a slight jump and turns her head to where the sound came from, letting the ball bounce away from her. She sees Atobe there, hands in his jeans pockets. His features are illuminated by the moon, making him appear somewhat otherworldly.

"What are you doing here?" She whispers, her breath somehow caught in her throat.

"Are you alright?" He smirks as he notices the effect he had on her.

"Yes," she says, snapping out of it by looking away. "I'm fine."

But even as she says this, she knows she isn't. She was far from it.

_Be honest, Lina_

"No," she sighs, bowing her head. "No, I'm not."

From where he was, Atobe could see the tears go down her face as she leans on her racquet to remain standing. He isn't sure whether or not to hug her, she would probably have punched him or something.

He decides to take the risk.

Lina feels a pair of arms go around her and she doesn't resist. Somehow, it's comforting and she feels safe. She wraps her arms around his waist to keep her standing, letting the racquet fall to the ground, and cries her worries away.

She's aware that she's not making the most… ladylike sobs, but she doesn't really care. Neither does he.

When her sobs quiet down to sniffles, she finds that they're sitting on the ground, side by side. She's leaning on Atobe and he has his arm around her.

"Feeling better?" Atobe asks.

She nods.

They are silent for a while, gazing up at the stars.

"My brother loves star gazing." She looks up with her tear stained face. "He loved the fact that there were just so many of them." She lets out a small laugh. "He often said that there are as many opponents as there are stars."

"He's coming back, you know," he say, a smile on curving his lips. "You make it sound like he's dead."

"When he left us a few years ago…" she reveals to him something she's never told anyone else, "I felt so lost. Ryoma and I looked to him as our older brother, and he just left us."

"He's adopted, isn't he?"

"Yeah, otou-san took him in when I was around six and he stayed with us for a couple of years." Lina says, sitting up. "I really looked up to him because he was so good at tennis." She blinks away the tears that are starting to form. "When he left, I was so devastated. But I became really angry, because Ryoma got really good, and I felt so alone because otou-san really seemed to adore him and okaa-san was busy. Then I got sick, and it seemed that it was me against the world, because life wasn't fair, Ryoma got this and that and he was so good at tennis even though he didn't really like it, but me—I worked so hard for everything," she knew she was ranting, and she didn't bother at all to wipe away the tears that were freely flowing down her face. "I was mad at Ryoma, too, but I tried not to because I know it's not his fault, and I still love him because he's my little brother, but I _was_ angry at him because he got everything while I—I had just lost everything to me."

It is now way off topic, but she's on a roll and Atobe doesn't mind just listening, knowing a little more about Lia and her complexity.

They're silent once again and Lina takes in deep breaths. Realizing the very late hour, she stands up and picks her racquet up, turning to Atobe.

"Thanks so much for listening, Atobe," Lina smiles. "It means quite a lot. I've never really talked about any of this to anyone."

"It's not a problem at all, Lina." Atobe says as he, too, gets up. "Come on, I'll give you a ride home."

Lina takes a moment to reply. "I'd rather walk, really." She smiles and heads to the stair, turning back at the first step down. "Come on! You coming or not?"

Atobe smiles. She's back to normal, though traces of her breakdown are still present—her eyes are puffy and red, and her cheeks are red from all the wiping she had done.

"I forgot to ask," Atobe says as they're walking towards her home. "How was therapy?"

Lina smiles. "Let's just say that I'll soon be able to beat your ass into oblivion at tennis."

"I don't think a million years is soon, Lina," Atobe smirks, his hands in his pocket to keep warm. Even summer nights could be cold.

Lina sticks her tongue out at him. "You'll see." After a moment, she continues. "My sternum's completely healed and I'll start training in a bit."

"I guess we'll have a real match soon?"

"I guess so, as long as you don't lose in the Nationals three weeks from now, I'd be terribly disappointed." Lina laughs.

"Oh, don't worry about me, worry about your little brother, he'll be devastated about his loss when he fights us."

When they reach her home, Lina smiles and hugs Atobe. "I'm very thankful, Atobe, that you listened to my ranting, I know it can get pretty annoying." She stands on her toes, kisses his cheek, to his utter surprise, and immediately retreats into the house.

He is still standing there moments after, shock and really giddy.

Shit.


End file.
